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COVID-19 has significantly influenced global financial markets, including Bitcoin. Recent studies have focused on investigating the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and accounting for market changes, which were mostly due to the pandemic. This research not only analyzes the contagion effects of COVID-19 but also considers aftermath events beyond the first pandemic wave to examine spillovers of Bitcoin. The study employs Diebold and Yilmaz's method to explore the static and dynamic spillovers of the selected variables and identifies several major global events, including crypto-specific affairs, macroeconomic policies, and geopolitical conflicts, to explain the new market dynamics of Bitcoin using network analysis. The findings identify a few high-contagion periods related to Bitcoin. The paper also found that Bitcoin is more likely to produce extreme returns and is more connected to other markets. Contagion effects "from" and "to" other markets are asymmetrical in terms of arrival time and market response. Bitcoin is more likely to be affected by other markets in extreme situations and receives spillovers from them sooner than it transmits spillovers to others. In the context of various global events, impacts arising from developed countries are stronger. China still has some impact on cryptocurrency markets, but they are waning. Bitcoin is thus not a safe haven from the shocks of global events, but can sometimes work as a hedge or diversifier. The results offer alternative explanations for Bitcoin's different market dynamics and enrich our understanding of Bitcoin's safe haven, hedge, and diversifier properties within a diversified portfolio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During 2022 and 2023, Industry 5.0 attracted a lot of attention. Many articles and papers regarding the basics of Industry 5.0, its pillars, and a comparison of Industry 5.0 and Industry 4.0, Society 5.0, and Operator 5.0 have been published. Although the concept of Industry 5.0 is relatively new, companies from developed countries that have a high level of implementation of Industry 4.0 have already started the transition to Industry 5.0. Even though Industry 5.0 enables developing countries to become a part of developed countries' value chains, it is not known which path to Industry 5.0 developing countries are taking. To fill this gap, the authors proposed research questions regarding the key indicators for measuring the levels of implementation of Industry 5.0 approaches in the manufacturing sector of the Republic of Serbia. This research includes insights from 146 manufacturing companies, gathered in 2022 as a part of the European Manufacturing Survey. The main findings of this study show that the most important indicator when it comes to human-centricity is training and competence development of production employees with a task-specific focus; the implementation of measures for improving efficiency in material consumption is significant for achieving sustainability; and the use of standardized and detailed work instructions is crucial in order to become resilient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The manufacturing investment shift from developed countries to emerging and developing regions creates further needs for identifying appropriate green certification strategies. This study proposes that alignments between green certification practices (GCRs) and process innovation (PIN) could help identify appropriate strategies that national economic development can influence. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on the diffusion of innovation theories, this study proposed a taxonomy to examine whether sustainable performance differs depending on the levels of alignment and the role of national economic development. The study uses an empirical survey approach to highlight alignments between GCRs and PIN among developed, developing and emerging economic nations, addressing resource allocation for the world's sustainable development goals (SDGs). Findings: Manufacturers need to align PIN practices with the level of green certification to achieve sustainable performance. Manufacturers experiencing higher payoffs from various improvements successfully align in GCR and PIN. The alignment between these two concepts can derive different taxonomies, which highlight performance and managerial implications for manufacturers. The manufacturers followed three distinct typologies: minimalist, process active and proactive. Besides, building on the theory of performance frontiers, the findings indicated that manufacturers in developing and emerging economies placed the most substantial GCR effort compared to their counterparts in developed nations. Manufacturers in developed countries are increasingly reaching the "diminishing points" and investing limited resources in GCR just enough to keep their competitive positioning as order qualifiers rather than order winners. Developing economies are catching up very quickly in attaining GCRs and business performance. Research limitations/implications: This insight is essential for managers to adapt to nations' economic development conditions and appropriately and effectively align resources. Practical implications: The findings offer a decision-making process and provide straightforward guidelines for supply chain managers' green certification adoption. Originality/value: In including both PIN and green certification, this paper adds greater comprehensiveness and richness to the supply chain literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates wage differentials between green and non-green jobs (wage greenium) in nine major Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay), which account for 81% of the region's GDP. We contribute to the recent literature highlighting a positive wage gap for those working in green jobs in developed countries. A positive wage gap for green jobs may be a virtuous market feature, as it means that in the future workers might be encouraged to switch to greener occupations. To do so, we define green jobs as those occupations with high greenness scores using the occupational approach as in Vona et al. (2018), Vona (2021) and de la Vega et al. (2024). Our results suggest that the wage greenium for the period 2012-2019 in Latin America was between 18% to 22%. Moreover, this wage gap has remained relatively stable over the years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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China's manufacturing has developed rapidly due to the integration of the global value chain (GVC) production division system. But the early OEM and processing can hardly meet the needs of high-quality development of the manufacturing. The "low-end lock-in" and "double squeeze" faced by China's manufacturing will impede the pace of upgrading the manufacturing. From the perspective of GVC accounting, this paper studies the industrial chain upgrading of China's manufacturing industry through four indicators: GVC participation, GVC division of labor status index, share of foreign value added in domestic exports, and manufacturing 'servitization' index, which from the value chain value added effect at the national level and industrial chain correlation effect at the industrial level, and drawing on the WWYZ method of Wang Zhi et al. (2017) and the input-output method of Leontief (1936). Through the research, it is found that the servitization level of the mid and high-tech industry and high-tech industry of China has been steadily improved, gradually getting rid of the "low-end lock-in" of developed countries and climbing to the high value added production links; Not only do the reindustrialization strategy of developed countries provide the obstacle to the upgrading of the industrial chain and value chain of China's high-tech industry, but also promote domestic talent training and technological innovation. The linkage and integration of the industrial chain of low-tech industry and low and mid-tech industry have been further improved, which plays a favorable role in relevant industry's value chain climbing and industrial chain upgrading. China's manufacturing is progressively improving its own value-added capability and international competitive advantage, further enhancing the two-way integration of the industrial chain, and gradually transitioning to both sides of the "smile curve", to achieve high-quality development of the manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility as a service (MaaS) is an emerging framework that integrates multiple transport services into a single and intuitive platform. This paper contrasts the urban passenger transport markets in developed versus developing economies to understand the challenges of integrating mobility services using the MaaS framework, with a focus on decarbonization and sustainability as societal goals. In addition, we conducted a Life Cycle Assessment of carbon emissions and energy requirements of travel alternatives in the city of Santiago, Chile, to shed light on the effects of multimodality as an environmental tool. A summary of findings follows. Data sharing and open data are new in developing countries, and thus more investment in data infrastructure is required so that MaaS can leverage digital technology and network optimization. If the scalability of MaaS is an open question in developed countries, it is more so in developing countries, owning to institutional and financial constraints that are present in the latter. The lack of public subsidies to support formal public transport is a key limitation for the implementation of MaaS schemes and multimodal frameworks in the developing world. Regarding formality, in countries with an informal public transport sector, a potential implementation of MaaS will be spatially constrained to those locations where public transport operates formally and frequently (BRT and rail lines), limiting its spatial coverage and posing social equity issues. In countries with scarce or no public funds available for the transport sector, MaaS could be used as a catalyst for a broad environmental and equity-seeking transport pricing reform which requires a direct involvement of public sector in both regulation and financial backing. We conclude that the formalization and general improvement of the public transport sector, the regulation of shared-mobility platforms including the formalization of the work of drivers, and the setting of proper pricing and subsidization instruments in the direction of internalizing the social costs of motorized traffic, are all prerequisites for any MaaS system that aims to improve economic efficiency, social equity, and sustainability. • Assess MaaS as a framework for decarbonization in developing world. • Discuss governance and equity issues in implementing MaaS. • Identify carbon policy for different cities to achieve sustainability. • Conduct a life cycle assessment to inform carbon strategies. • Scalability is a key challenge in both developing and developed worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nova Economia is the property of Nova Economia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

BACKGROUND: Death registration completeness, the share of deaths captured by countries' vital registration systems, vary substantially across countries. Estimates of completeness, even recent ones, are outdated or contradictory for many countries. OBJECTIVE: We derive the most up-to-date and consistent estimates of death registration completeness in as many countries as possible. RESULTS: Death registration is complete in Europe, North America, and other developed countries. In developing countries, completeness varies by region. While some have complete death registration, many countries completeness ranges from 40% to 75%. Regionally, Africa has lowest death registration completeness, and in many countries no registration data was located. In Latin America and Asia, several countries have improved their registration compared to previously available estimates. CONTRIBUTION: This paper presents the publicly available International Completeness of Death Registration (ICDR) dataset: https://github.com/akarlinsky/death registration. ICDR contains the annual amount of deaths registered and death registration completeness in 193 countries from 2015 to 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Politica y Sociedad is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The balanced growth theory and the neoclassical growth model predict that certain macroeconomic variables such as output, consumption, and investment grow at a constant rate. Analytically, it indicates that the consumption-output ratio and the investment-output ratio (termed "great ratios") must be stationary. Moreover, consumption and investment must be cointegrated with output. This paper examines these implications with respect to developed (G7) and emerging (E7) countries using data for the period 1970-2019. The validity of the balanced growth hypothesis (BGH) is tested by using unit root tests (univariate analysis) and cointegration techniques (multivariate analysis) that permits endogenously determined structural breaks. The findings of our univariate analysis suggest limited evidence of the BGH in developed and developing countries. The multivariate analysis exhibits more supportive evidence of the BGH in five developed countries and limited evidence for two developing countries. The study also employs the Westerlund (2006) panel cointegration test with structural breaks to examine the validity of the BGH. Empirical findings validate the BGH for the G7 countries, while it is not validated for E7 countries. In sum, the study promulgates the use of structural breaks in a multivariate setup in testing the BGH to find robust evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fashion Industry practices globally are considered to have major negative impacts on both the environment and society. Production and consumption have increasingly moved towards the industry's model of take-create-dispose. As this phenomenon is observed to take center stage in more industrialized and advanced nations, developing countries including Ghana, also contribute directly or indirectly to the negative impacts. Fashion production in Ghana is predominantly centered on small to medium-scale enterprises, and their mode of operation allows for customized small runs tailored to specific end-customers, thereby providing an avenue for exploring sustainable strategies that may have a positive impact on the environment and society. This paper takes a narrative review approach to how the fashion industry in Ghana impacts sustainability and the opportunities to make positive impacts on sustainability at a global level. It demonstrates how Ghana, as a developing country, imports raw materials for both textile and apparel production from counterparts in developing and developed countries and contributes to negative environmental impacts associated with sourcing countries. However, with the emergence of sustainable strategies, local contemporary fashion designers can embrace culturally friendly sustainable models to enhance their practice toward industry sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bladder cancer (BC) is a 9th most common cancer in the world that make from 3% of global neoplasms. Bladder cancer is prevalent in the developed countries. Cancer of the bladder is four times more common in men than women. External risk factors and internal triggers contribute to the development of bladder cancer. Thus, comprehensive analysis of these risk factors is a earnest to timely prevention of indicated oncologic pathology. The objective: to do a current systematic review of epidemiology of bladder cancer and modern important risk factors, which appropriate to the given pathology. Evidence acquisition. We carried out a systemic review of epidemiology of bladder cancer embracing PubMed and Embase including March 2023. All studies reporting gender, smoking, E-cigarette use, opium consumption, occupational carcinogene expose, dietary factors, race, gene-environment interaction, socioeconomic status. Microbiome factors, urolithiasis, benign prostate hyperplasiapelvic radiotherapy were excluded. Evidence synthesis. A total of 516 papers, that studied epidemiology of bladder cancer, were involved. According to GLOBOCAN, there were 573 000 new bladder cancer cases and 213 000 deaths worldwide in 2020. Smoking and occupational exposures (aromatic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) are the most important risk factors. Moreover, the additional risk factors include some dietary agents, gene specificities, diesel exhaust emissions and etc.. Conclusions. Smoking tobacco and specific occupational exposures are the most important risk factors. Prevention strategies, including smoke cessation, responsible workplace safety, diet, schistosomias prevention are useful for reduction of the incidence BC. But high-quality studies are required to confirm initial results that will support timely prevention of BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, the rapid rise in global temperatures has indicated an irreversible and irresistible shift in climate conditions. In this regard, the international community has concluded various hard law instruments amongst which the Paris Agreement has emerged as the 'ideal' climate change treaty. Nevertheless, such initiatives have also been criticized as ineffective due to multiple reasons, for instance, the inactivity of developed nations in observing their obligations, developing nation's lack of scientific expertise and economic means and their reliance on cooperation from developed countries; the absence of an international forum to enforce climate justice and so on. Although climate change is a universal concern, its effects and adversities primarily tend to have a devastating impact on nations with vulnerable geographical locations. In this paper, the author has highlighted the significance and urgent necessity of international cooperation; the upswing in unfavorable conditions in climate-risk countries particularly Bangladesh; and the available avenues to compel 'inactive' yet 'major GHG emitting' nations to fulfil their environmental obligations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: While existing research explores the impact of audit market competition on audit fees and audit quality, there is limited investigation into how competition in the audit market influences auditors' writing style. This study examines the relationship between audit market competition and the readability of audit reports in Iran, where competition is particularly intense, especially among private audit firms. Design/methodology/approach: The sample comprises 1,050 firm-year observations in Iran from 2012 to 2018. Readability measures, including the Fog index, Flesch-Reading-Ease (FRE) and Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG), are employed to assess the readability of auditors' reports. The Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) is utilized to measure audit market competition, with lower index values indicating higher auditor competition. The concentration measure is multiplied by −1 to obtain the competition measure (AudComp). Alternative readability measures, such as the Flesch–Kincaid (FK) and Automated Readability Index (ARI) are used in additional robustness tests. Data on textual features of audit reports, auditor characteristics and other control variables are manually collected from annual reports of firms listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). Findings: The regression analysis results indicate a significant and positive association between audit market competition and audit report readability. Furthermore, a stronger positive and significant association is observed among private audit firms, where competition is more intense compared to state audit firms. These findings remain robust when using alternative readability measures and other sensitivity checks. Additional analysis reveals that the positive effect of competition on audit report readability is more pronounced in situations where the auditor remains unchanged and the audit market size is small. Originality/value: This paper expands the existing literature by examining the impact of audit market competition on audit report readability. It focuses on a unique audit market (Iran), where competition among audit firms is more intense than in developed countries due to the liberalization of the Iranian audit market in 2001 and the establishment of numerous private audit firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main contention of this paper is that, no matter whether one is a true believer or a professed atheist, religion remains a relevant social phenomenon. Serious scholars have written about an eclipse of the sacred in industrial societies through a sad confusion between «sacred» and «religious». The «religious» as a commodity administered by an organized church might well be in a state of crisis. But the «sacred» is actually the meta-human element that makes mankind exist and develop beyond the so-called «laws» of the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the mobility patterns of older adults in ten countries, with a focus on the differences produced by urban environments in their non-work trips. Using detailed time use diaries from the Multinational Time Use Study for the last two decades, we analyze the trips associated with leisure and housework of non-working older adults. The results show that older adults in urban areas spend more time in leisure trips than similar individuals in rural areas. On the other hand, male older adults in urban areas spend less time in housework trips than do their counterparts in rural areas. However, such correlations are found to differ by country, gender, type of trip, and mode of transport, revealing complex correlations between urban forms and older adults' daily mobility. Furthermore, factors such as the number of railway kilometers, gross domestic product growth rates, and the percentage of urban population in the country seem to be associated with differences in the behavior of older adults in their non-work daily trips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Network Readiness Index (NRI) is one of the indicators that shows the level of digital development of countries. The NRI for 2021 shows the development of 130 countries, in contrast to the 45 countries covered by the International Digital Economy and Society Index (I-DESI) of the European Union, which measures only the most developed countries. This paper aims to determine the relationship between 12 sub-pillars of NRI. We use Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to perform a mapping of our data to a lower-dimensional space, and further analyse the causal relationships between the principal sub-pillars using partial correlation coefficients, concluding that two of the twelve main sub-pillars can be explained by ten independent sub-pillars. Thereafter, we use cluster analysis to group our objects (i.e. the 130 countries) into clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often desired to rank different populations according to the value of some feature of each population. For example, it may be desired to rank neighbourhoods according to some measure of intergenerational mobility or countries according to some measure of academic achievement. These rankings are invariably computed using estimates rather than the true values of these features. As a result, there may be considerable uncertainty concerning the rank of each population. In this paper, we consider the problem of accounting for such uncertainty by constructing confidence sets for the rank of each population. We consider both the problem of constructing marginal confidence sets for the rank of a particular population as well as simultaneous confidence sets for the ranks of all populations. We show how to construct such confidence sets under weak assumptions. An important feature of all of our constructions is that they remain computationally feasible even when the number of populations is very large. We apply our theoretical results to re-examine the rankings of both neighbourhoods in the U.S. in terms of intergenerational mobility and developed countries in terms of academic achievement. The conclusions about which countries do best and worst at reading, math, and science are fairly robust to accounting for uncertainty. The confidence sets for the ranking of the fifty most populous commuting zones by measures of mobility are also found to be small. These confidence sets, however, become much less informative if one includes all commuting zones, if one considers neighbourhoods at a more granular level (counties, census tracts), or if one uses movers across areas to address concerns about selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes and presents the recoil of globalization and the rising aspects of slowbalization, de-globalization and re-globalization for business and companies. The analysis and results demonstrated that as globalization united economies and societies, it has led them as well to various challenges where some of them started to de-globalize by moving their business and companies home to avoid the negative impact of globalization and to secure their business values. The rising challenges in the global economy and society have made globalization recoil and move towards the process of slowbalization or de-globalization. The ups and downs in the global GDP, inequality between nations and economies in business values and benefits, the rise of geopolitical conflicts, the expensive technologies and its dominance by developed countries, the slowdown in foreign direct investments (FDIs) are some of the main factors of the slowdown of the process of globalization. In conclusion, there should be an extension and embrace of trade and international business rather than rejecting it to overcome the most pressing challenges of globalization. The reality of re-globalization or even sustainable globalization might be be visible when all the sustainable development goals (SDGs) will be fullfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The satellite technology proves its impact in the modern era with its wide benefits and applications. However, the cost of the development in this field presents gaps in many countries, almost the developed countries. Therefore, this paper provides a rich platform around low-cost sensors in order to improve maturity in space technology, mostly the system of attitude determination and control. The development of this knowledge turns out to be very interesting in order to achieve a space mission which leads to the progression of the spatial technology readiness level (TRL) defined by the international measurement scale which is able to estimate the technological maturity. Thus, the idea is carried out for the development of low-cost sensors' system for attitude determination around an Arduino board. A sensor fusion method was applied on three types of sensors: accelerometer, magnetometer, and gyroscope in order to detect the reliable orientation. It is aimed to apply quaternion based Kalman filter on different platform than previous systems. It is succeeded therefore to improve measurement accuracy around low-cost sensor to achieve the main goal of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores whether inequities in access to COVID‐19 vaccines can be attributed to governance deficits, particularly for developing and emerging countries where poor governance is widespread, but also for developed countries, where governments' performance fell short of expectations. These shared performance deficits beg questions about the impact of governance quality as well as the interplay of ethics in governance when life‐or‐death decisions must be made. It also explores the impact of COVID‐19 on development, especially in the areas of poverty and employment. The findings of the paper show that there is a positive correlation between vaccine equity and good governance, meaning that countries with higher scores in governance rankings have more access to vaccines and have vaccinated most of their populations. Similarly, countries with relatively lower scores in governance rankings have poor access to and distribution of vaccines and have only covered a limited number of their people. The paper further points to disastrous societal impacts of COVID‐19 vaccine inequity on poverty and employment, which have hindered global development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Economy & Market Communication Review / Casopis za Ekonomiju i Trzisne Komunikacije is the property of Pan-European University Apeiron and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The infrastructure and methods for developed countries' economic statistics, largely established in the mid‐20th century, rest almost entirely on survey and administrative data. The increasing difficulty of obtaining survey responses threatens the sustainability of this model. Meanwhile, users of economic data are demanding ever more timely and granular information. "Big data" originally created for other purposes offer the promise of new approaches to the compilation of economic data. Drawing primarily on the U.S. experience, the paper considers the challenges to incorporating big data into the ongoing production of official economic statistics and provides examples of progress towards that goal to date. Beyond their value for the routine production of a standard set of official statistics, new sources of data create opportunities to respond more nimbly to emerging needs for information. The concluding section of the paper argues that national statistical offices should expand their mission to seize these opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia is unusual among developed countries both in lacking fleet‐wide vehicle carbon dioxide emission standards and in having a very low takeup of all‐electric vehicles. This paper outlines how fleet‐wide vehicle carbon dioxide emission standards operate and identifies mechanisms by which their absence might lead to a low takeup of electric vehicles in countries such as Australia. Although hard to verify one of those mechanisms in Australia (higher prices charged for all‐electric vehicles), it is easy to verify the unusually low number of models of all‐electric models made available for sale. The paper also outlines Australia's slow 15‐year journey towards standards, pointing to the possible role of political machinations and political caution in delaying their introduction. It identifies one group of employees with much to lose from a rapid uptake of electric vehicles—motor mechanics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roadway infrastructure management focuses on quality of the road surfaces which influences the pavement longevity and riding quality. The road surface quality can be expressed in many ways from which the International Roughness Index has been recognized widely around the developed countries. This paper summarizes the derivation of International Roughness calculation and proposes a new numerical method for its computation. Compared to original Sayers's method, it does not use iterative approximation, which makes it much faster for non-uniformly sampled road data. This is useful, for example, for profiles generated from LIDAR point clouds. The method can be used for arbitrary polynomial model of segments between elevation samples. Except the Fortran code listed in the original paper, the code for the original algorithm has not been publicly available and most researchers relied on the ProVAL software with several limitations, including uniform sampling, the lack of automation, and little control over the influence of resampling methods and the initialization of the quarter-car simulation procedure. We provide Matlab codes for both the original method and the algorithm newly proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infection with hepatitis E virus (HEV) is common in both developing and industrialized nations. Genotypes 3 and 4 are increasingly being reported, particularly in high‐income countries where the precise extent of HEV transmission via food is currently unclear. Recently, HEV has been found to be excreted in milk; however, data on the potential milk‐borne transmission is still lacking or conflicting and warrants further research on the topic. As such, the aim of the present study was to review the current scientific knowledge and to summarize the existing studies in which HEV has been detected in milk. Exhaustive searches were carried out in Mendeley, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. A total of 157 papers were retrieved from the four electronic databases. After removing duplicate articles from the databases (n = 30), exclusion criteria identified unrelated research (n = 115). This allowed the identification of 12 eligible papers. To date, studies on HEV detection in milk were mostly from China (n = 5), followed by Egypt (n = 2), Germany (n = 1), Belgium and Holland (n = 1), Turkey (n = 1), Czech Republic (n = 1) and Spain (n = 1) and were focused on a variety of animals (cow, goat, donkey, buffalo, sheep and camel) and humans. Four out of the 12 eligible studies did not find any evidence of HEV in milk. Moreover, 3 out of the 12 studies detected low rates of HEV (0.2–1.8%) and two were based on a low sample size (n = 1 and n = 4). Interestingly, one study showed very high detection rates and also detected HEV genotype 1 in an animal milk sample, an unusual finding since it only occurs in humans, deserving further studies for confirmation and characterization. Two studies detected high prevalence of HEV genotype 4 in bovine samples from China, with one showing indication of the presence of infectious HEV in milk. To date, there is still a small amount of available data on the HEV presence in milk, posing important questions regarding both animal and human health. Thus, further efforts on this potentially underestimated zoonotic route for HEV should be given, warranting further studies on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tourism Review is the property of Emerald Publishing Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

E-filing is one of the e-government facilities that have been embraced by various developed countries, where the public has to release their obligation to the government through online tax filing. E-filing of taxes has been adopted by many countries and India is no exception. One protruding type of e-government is the introduction of the e-filing system for income tax. Through this system, taxpayers are able to submit their tax returns electronically to the tax authorities. However the success of such systems depends on citizen's satisfaction and intention to re-use the e-filing system. This paper attempts to analyze the factors that influence individual assesee in adopting electronic tax-filing services. A survey has been used to collect primary data and questionnaire approach was used in final analysis. This paper deals with the primary data collection method through questionnaire of primary data filled stabilized and analyzed to use SPSS. The overall results of the study point out that tax payer are enthusiastic as regards new technology. By paying overt attention to intended tax users' technology inclination may assist the tax authority in formulating strategy to accelerate the acceptance of e-filing system more easily among the people in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing rate of global inequality, on the one hand, and hyper-consumerism, particularly among higher socio-economic classes in developed countries, on the other, have resulted in the emergence of new forms of subsistence, lifestyles and settlement types where subaltern groups and populations live and work. This paper investigates the emergence of two of these kinds of settlement in Tehran, Iran, that have developed based on the intersection of two factors: garbage and undocumented migration. In these places, undocumented Afghan migrants sort and sell dry garbage. At the same time, these places shelter the workers, chiefly teenage and underage undocumented Afghan migrants. This paper is a preliminary effort to archaeologically categorize and conceptualize these garbage-based settlements. Archaeology is among the best methodologies to investigate the materiality and inequality faced by such transient subaltern groups in the short and long term. Here I discuss how several factors, beyond absolute poverty, participate in turning garbage into a livelihood and generate garbage-based settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does good governance matter for exporting to the highly competitive markets of developed countries, especially those committed to a developmental mission centered on promoting good governance? This paper is investigating this research question. The focus of the analysis is the case study of Arab exports to the German economy, where a comparatively poor performance in comparison to that of other regions of the world is witnessed, despite geographical proximity and preferential trade agreements. Using statistical data and the literature on the subject, the paper engages in a discussion on German trade flows from Arab countries and whether governance indicators provide a good explanatory framework. The research question is then investigated empirically by running several regressions using the two-stage least-squares and Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood models. Different indicators of German exports are used as dependent variables while the independent variables are various governance indicators together with the control variables suggested by the gravity model. The obtained empirical results suggest that good governance generally boosts Arab exports to Germany and relatively more than it does for non-Arab exporters to Germany. This is especially true for governance indicators that directly affect exporting activities, such as regulatory quality and government effectiveness. For some indicators that indirectly affect exporting, however, the results are mixed for both Arab and non-Arab countries, especially for the textile industry. This sheds doubts on Germany's developmental commitment to fostering good governance principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Collegium Antropologicum is the property of Croatian Anthropological Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores the characteristics and inter-relationships of tax systems in the OECD countries over the period 2014–2020, i.e., from a relatively consolidated economic period until the end of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A predictable tax system is essential for the proper functioning of the economy. One of our two main research objectives was to develop a composite indicator for taxation, consisting of tax rates and tax administration time. This composite indicator was then tested using multivariate statistical methods. Our second research objective was to explore the correlation between tax rates, tax burden indicators and macroeconomic indicators over the period 2014–2020, focusing on three years, 2014, 2019 and 2020. An important criterion for the choice of the study years was that 2014 was considered the first overall year of recovery from the crisis, 2019 the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2020 the first year affected by the pandemic. We investigated the significant differences between the composite indicator categories and the tax burden macroeconomic indicators, and examined and tested correlations between the variables under study (tax rates, tax burden and macroeconomic variables). We found that the amount of working time spent on tax administration is decreasing, presumably due to the increasingly digitalised environment, but this trend has been slightly interrupted by the pandemic. Furthermore, we found that countries with more complex tax systems with a high tax burden perform worse on certain macroeconomic indicators, mainly in southern Europe from a geographical perspective; however, these potentially more burdensome, higher-rate tax systems of more developed countries do not put these countries at a competitive disadvantage. This reflects on the fact that these countries rely on the monetarist school rather than the Keynesian school, a fact which was also compared and considered in our paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to developed countries, developing countries have been observed to have an increased reliance on a diversity of water supply options to meet their daily demands, where formal supply systems are incapable of fulfilling the daily needs of consumers. In filling a demand-supply gap, informal supply systems are increasingly being associated with issues of long-term sustainability, higher consumer cost, and inequity. Emerging formal-informal dynamics in developing countries require a thorough understanding of complex human-water interactions for policy direction, in order to best support the advancement of urban water sustainability. Accordingly, system archetypes offer a platform to explain the behaviors of complex systems. This paper identifies common system archetypes that define urban waterscapes in the developing world. In this way, Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs) are used to present relationships and identify common archetypes that define the complexity of urban water supply systems in Hyderabad, Pakistan. These archetypes include 'fixes that fail', 'shifting the burden', 'limits to growth/success' and 'growth and underinvestment'. These archetypes demonstrate that increases in formal infrastructure capacity and the number of informal suppliers to increase supply reliability are symptomatic solutions, restrained by financial and technical resources, and thus have unintended consequences. Further, a number of policy instruments are discussed as leverage points to achieve financial sustainability of formal systems. This paper emphasizes the need of a policy framework for informal supply system in national and regional water policies to ensure its service reliability as a short to medium term solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between financial development and energy consumption is the most frequently research subject in economy and finance. The main objective of conducting this paper is to answer does financial development have an impact on renewable energy in developed countries? Many papers performed in energy literature, the findings were pointing to the existence of this kind of relationship. In order to examine the relationship between financial development and renewable energy consumption, a total of 23 developed countries, benefited from annual frequency data between 1990 and 2015. In addition to the widely used system generalized method of moments estimation method, models are also estimated with modern estimators using the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag. As a result of the analysis performed indicates that there is a strong relationship between financial development and renewable energy consumption in developed countries when financial development is measured using banking variables. Otherwise, the estimated coefficients on stock market variables are negative and none of them found statistically significant in all models. These findings are consistent for both estimators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of a secular decline in internal migration across more developed nations, this paper examines the degree of counterurbanisation in New South Wales – Australia's most populous state – for 2016-21, a period that included the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a nuanced demarcation of 'metropolitan' and 'non-metropolitan', the paper investigates how genuinely counter-urban and pro-rural these movements are. The paper also explores the role of rural amenity as a 'pull' factor on city populations, using the most influential elements of the rural environment that best predict in-, out-migration and net-migration flows as separate measures rather than combine them into an index of composite variables. The results suggest that counterurbanisation exists as a particular migration current in NSW, though the spatial patterning of in- and net migration rates suggests that exurbanisation and displaced urbanisation more accurately describe and explain the vast majority of moves. Relatively high in- and net migration rates recorded in the most remote local government areas also suggest an element of anti-urbanisation, perhaps in response to the COVID-19 public health measures. Spatial regression modelling of selected amenity indicators against in-, out- and net migration produced high coefficients (Spearman's rho) for the in- and out-migration models, while the net migration model registered coefficients about half the size of the other two models. Two indicators – median slope and tourism employment – were strong and statistically significant influences over the in- and net migration models, and in the direction hypothesised. These results suggest that counterurbanisation is substantially influenced by the presence of landscapes of varied relief and with some tourism attraction potential. • The spatial patterning of in- and net migration rates between the New South Wales metro region and non-metro regions suggest that exurbanisation and displaced urbanisation more accurately explain the vast majority of moves. • Relatively high in- and net migration rates recorded in the most remote local government areas of NSW also suggest an element of anti-urbanisation, perhaps in response to the COVID-19 public health measures. • Two indicators – median slope and tourism employment – had statistically significant influences over the in- and net migration models in spatial regression modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scientometric research was conducted through correlation-analysis, and intended to assess the correlation between publications and patents both in developed countries and in Iran. The present study was performed using scientometric methodology and used USPTO for patent data and Scopus for publication data from 2015 to 2019. This study applied both parametric and non-parametric statistical analyses. Moreover, the Spearman Correlation analysis was used to determine the correlation between variables and types of variables. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS1 software. The relationship between these two variables was significant in each of the years under study. Different types of scientific documents, such as books, articles, and conference papers, were assessed. The Pearson Correlation analysis between these types of documents showed significance at 0.01 level in the articles with the correlation coefficient of 0.858, books with the correlation coefficient of 0.867, and conference papers with the correlation coefficient of 0.874, which was related to the extent of patenting. The subject areas related to social sciences and humanities, engineering and technical sciences, medical sciences, and biological sciences with the correlation coefficients of 0.866, 0.861, 0.843, and 0.834, respectively, at 0.01 level, revealed a significant relationship between the studied countries' scientific output in these subject areas and the extent of patenting. The results of the present research showed that there was a positive relationship between the studied countries' scientific output and their level of patenting. The countries that enjoy high levels of scientific output have more inventions. However, the results for Iran indicated that the growth in scientific output has had an insignificant effect on the country's invention rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Separate studies suggest that the risks from smoking might vary between high-income (HICs), middle-income (MICs), and low-income (LICs) countries, but this has not yet been systematically examined within a single study using standardised approaches. We examined the variations in risks from smoking across different country income groups and some of their potential reasons., Methods: We analysed data from 134 909 participants from 21 countries followed up for a median of 11·3 years in the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) cohort study; 9711 participants with myocardial infarction and 11 362 controls from 52 countries in the INTERHEART case-control study; and 11 580 participants with stroke and 11 331 controls from 32 countries in the INTERSTROKE case-control study. In PURE, all-cause mortality, major cardiovascular disease, cancers, respiratory diseases, and their composite were the primary outcomes for this analysis. Biochemical verification of urinary total nicotine equivalent was done in a substudy of 1000 participants in PURE., Findings: In PURE, the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for the composite outcome in current smokers (vs never smokers) was higher in HICs (HR 1·87, 95% CI 1·65-2·12) than in MICs (1·41, 1·34-1·49) and LICs (1·35, 1·25-1·46; interaction p<0·0001). Similar patterns were observed for each component of the composite outcome in PURE, myocardial infarction in INTERHEART, and stroke in INTERSTROKE. The median levels of tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide displayed on the cigarette packs from PURE HICs were higher than those on the packs from MICs. In PURE, the proportion of never smokers reporting high second-hand smoke exposure (≥1 times/day) was 6·3% in HICs, 23·2% in MICs, and 14·0% in LICs. The adjusted geometric mean total nicotine equivalent was higher among current smokers in HICs (47·2 μM) than in MICs (31·1 μM) and LICs (25·2 μM; ANCOVA p<0·0001). By contrast, it was higher among never smokers in LICs (18·8 μM) and MICs (11·3 μM) than in HICs (5·0 μM; ANCOVA p=0·0001)., Interpretation: The variations in risks from smoking between country income groups are probably related to the higher exposure of tobacco-derived toxicants among smokers in HICs and higher rates of high second-hand smoke exposure among never smokers in MICs and LICs., Funding: Full funding sources are listed at the end of the paper (see Acknowledgments)., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests We declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Cross-border data flow brings new growth and opportunities for the development of digital economy, but disordered cross-border data flow may damage national security, public interests, enterprise interests, and data sovereignty. At present, the unified rules for global regulation of cross-border data flow have not yet been formed. The existing rules are mainly led by developed countries like Europe and the United States. There is huge room for improvement in the international legal protection of cross-border transmission of personal information. This paper introduces the privacy protection mechanism of personal information data under the digital trade environment in China, that is, the privacy protection framework under the background of big data, cloud computing, and the cloud service selection method of data life cycle privacy protection. At the same time, we combined with many problems existing in the cross-border transmission of personal privacy information in China and compared with foreign advanced experience, and this paper puts forward China's response path to clarify the obligations of data controllers and exporters, improve the responsibilities of regulators, improve the legislation of cross-border data flow, and improve the operability of the law; we vigorously carry out international cooperation and actively participate in the formulation of international rules, so as to further protect the rights and interests of personal privacy information protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of Chinese subsidy interventions in the upstream sector on the competitiveness of the downstream sector. In particular, the paper investigates the causal effect of Chinese subsidies on base metal products on the export competitiveness of downstream sectors in other major trading countries. To explore the impact of base metal subsidy interventions on the downstream sector of a trading partner, we exploit both temporal variation in subsidy interventions and base‐metal consumption by the downstream sector. Using a panel data for 137 sectors in 40 major trading partners of the Chinese economy, the results of the paper reveal that a one‐unit increase in Chinese subsidies decreases competitors' exports by an average of 16.6%. This indicates that an increase in one standard deviation of Chinese subsidies in the base metals sector decreases exports in the other major economies by 0.17 percentage points. The findings of the paper reveal that the impacts of Chinese subsidy interventions are larger and statistically significant for the exports of developed countries and metal‐intensive users in the downstream sectors. Production relocation to China, absorption of larger inexpensive base metals input by domestic Chinese firms, and subsidy complementarity in the Chinese upstream and downstream sectors could be some of the potential drivers for the negative impact of Chinese subsidy interventions on the export performance of foreign downstream firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diaspora mainly refers to the movement and scattering of people due to several factors. The paper studies the theme of Diaspora in two Booker Prize winning novels: V.S Naipaul's In a Free State (1971) and Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss(2006). The objectives of the paper are to study why the people who leave their homeland, especially from the third world countries to the first world countries feel like a subaltern and they lead a subaltern existence even after their immigration to the transnational land. The present paper studies multifaceted problems that originate since the time an immigrant lands on the alien shore and an amalgamation of conflicting emotions which he/she undergoes after being transplanted in a culture which neither accepts nor rejects him/her and the ways in which economic, political, social, cultural life of immigrants is transformed due to transnational migration. In a nation subalterns remain deprived of dignified status, are inarticulate, poor, resourceless, and passive. Priviliges are enjoyed by the people belonging to the upper caste, rich class, higher position, power etc. The people who move to other countries because of various reasons also live like subalterns and suffer from alienation, insecurity, and rootlessness, distorted form of human relationships and the subsequent loss of history. The paper also compares the presentation of the theme of alienation, mobility, migration, and dislocation by V.S Naipaul, and Kiran Desai in their selected novels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics have promoted the rapid development of ice-snow tourism in China, which contributes to achieving the goal of having "300 million people participate in ice-snow sports". This paper analyzes the status quo and problems associated with the growth of ice-snow tourism in China based on the methods of documentation and field investigation. The results indicate that China's efforts have born abundant fruits. Notwithstanding, there are still some problems due to the limited time and hastened process of ice-snow tourism development, including unreasonable exploitation, low-quality products and services, imperfect investment and financing system, inadequate management, a single marketing mode, and insufficient talent teams. Compared with developed countries in Europe and the United States, ice-snow tourism in China is in the stage of rapid development. To achieve the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China, this paper proposes actions from eight aspects which involve policy, products and services, marketing, safety management and control, talent teams, standardization construction, science and technology, and community participation. This study can provide references for the high-quality development of ice-snow tourism in China, as well as perfecting Chinese theoretical research on ice-snow tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Architectural Journal / Jian Zhu Xue Bao is the property of Architectural Journal Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: In the ongoing Industry 4.0 era, the internet of things (IoT) has become a global race in the current information technology climate. However, little is understood about the pattern of the global competitive arena or its players' set up strategy. This paper aims to attempt to compare the cross-country development of the IoT industry. In particular, from the lens of industrial policies, this paper highlights how China, as a latecomer, gains momentum to emerge victorious as a leader in this global race. Design/methodology/approach: Based on five dimensions, namely, foundation, trajectory, characteristic, application and social impacts, this paper presents the evolution of the IoT industry in the USA, European Union, Japan, South Korea and China. From the lens of windows of opportunities, this paper analyzes how China seized the opportunity with the emerging technology, thereby, enabling it to create a competitive advantage. Findings: This paper finds that China's IoT industry takes a distinct trajectory, where scientific institutions, enterprises and governmental policies collaborate in unison, during which the first phase was when scientific research institutions introduced the conceptual new technology from developed countries. This technological foresight allowed for the identification and realization of critical technologies, strategic fields and technological trends. The second phase was the continuous dissatisfaction of capabilities of critical technologies, which creates disruptions that significantly altered the environment of technological competition. Originality/value: This paper provides a comprehensive and comparative review of IoT industries in a global context, with the critical and influential role of the windows of opportunities on those enterprises lagging behind the technological wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effect of mortality rates (under-five and adult mortality) and population growth on the population ageing in a pooled sample of nine lower and upper middle European countries. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to investigate the ageing process of the population in the context of mortality mechanisms (under five and adult mortality) and of population growth in nine European LUMIs. The analysis is implemented in terms of Pooled least squares with cross-section fixed effects methodology. The novelty used within this research is White two-way cluster standard errors & covariance. This study is based on a database from the World Bank and UN covering the period 1995-2019. The expected results are making available quantitative analysis and insights in the context of mechanisms between the ageing process of population, mortality and population growth across these European LUMIs. Results are consistent with the notion that the increasing ageing process within these countries may be a consequence of the negative impact of population growth and from the influence of adult mortality for both sexes. The research results confirm the presence of solid ties of the mechanism between mortality, population growth and population ageing. Therefore, a clear point was provided that mortality acceleration will depend primarily on the level of population growth., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.