Emerging Science Journal (ESJ)
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Private Health Insurance in the Post-Pandemic Era: Spatial Econometric Market Development Analysis
Get PDFThe post-COVID era has posed unprecedented challenges to healthcare systems worldwide, urging a reevaluation of healthcare financing mechanisms. This study investigates the evolving landscape of private health insurance markets in the aftermath of the pandemic while considering the influence of international sanctions. Employing a spatial lag model (SLM), data from Albania, Russia, and Malaysia were analyzed to uncover the intricate interplay of factors shaping private health insurance coverage rates. The findings reveal nuanced patterns and disparities across these countries. The significance of variables varies: while private insurance share and government health expenditure consistently exhibit positive and substantial impacts on coverage rates, the unemployment rate presents differential effects. COVID-19 deaths influence coverage in Russia, emphasizing the pandemic's specific impact. Moreover, hospital beds' significance in Malaysia underscores healthcare infrastructure's varying importance. Importantly, the spatial lag effect is consistently significant, emphasizing regional interdependence. Collectively, our study highlights the multifaceted determinants of private health insurance coverage, revealing insights crucial for policymakers navigating post-pandemic healthcare financing challenges among international sanctions. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-06-013 Full Text: PD
New Concept of Teaching English to Students from Non-English Speaking Countries
Get PDFThe objective of this study is to compare and underscore the advantages and disadvantages of learning English in non-English speaking countries to propose the concept of a new English teaching method for students from non-English speaking countries (the case of Russia, Spain, Serbia, and Indonesia). The study used a mixed-methods approach with qualitative analysis of literature from Russia, Serbia, Spain, and Indonesia, and a research questionnaire was developed. 1595 participants were recruited for a survey determining their experiences of learning English and students' perspectives on English teaching methods in non-English speaking countries. The data went through thematic analysis in the qualitative part of the research and descriptive analysis in the quantitative survey-based design. Findings of the qualitative analysis revealed both advantages and disadvantages of teaching English to students in selected countries; however, the main findings reported the presence of cultural barriers and students finding it difficult to form meanings from the English language context. Conceptual thinking helped to understand the role of memory and comprehension when learning a foreign language, whereby research focuses on more novel concepts. Future researchers can focus on the area of neural development of students' memory, which can help guide strategies to teach the English language effectively. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-06-020 Full Text: PD
User-Centric Measures of the Perceived Light Qualities of Lighting Products
Get PDFNowadays, lighting planning is predominantly determined by the need to meet physically measurable requirements that are often based on current lighting standards. However, meeting the minimum technical requirements of the standards is no guarantee for a visually appealing light environment. Instead, requirements based on perceived light qualities also need to be included to achieve better user comfort. Taking perception-based qualities into consideration when creating a light environment is, for many, not an easy task. In addition, a common terminology for perceived light qualities is currently lacking, both in industry and in research. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to explore how perceived light qualities of white light sources can be described when employing user-centric measures. The focus was on the qualities of light colour and diffuse and distinct light since these qualities have a great impact on the visual impression of light. The perception was assessed by applying analytical sensory analysis to lighting products, a method found to be promising in previous work. The methodology is based on analytical measurement by the human senses, which is particularly valuable when developing a general terminology. Since sensory analysis is still quite new to the topic of lighting, the applicability of using the methodology to assess lighting in a real context was also investigated. The results of the studies showed that the perception of light qualities can be described using further concepts in addition to those currently used. For light colour, the concepts of reddish, bluish, yellowish, and greenish light colours proved suitable for providing a richer description of the quality. The concepts of diffuse and distinct light satisfactorily captured variations in light contrast produced by shadows, reflections, and sparkles. In addition, the studies revealed that analytical sensory analysis was applicable for assessing the perception of lighting in a real-world context. The latter means that knowledge gained in the laboratory can be translated into real environments. The user-centric measures investigated in this paper have contributed to the terminology related to perceived light qualities. These can complement the physical measures in lighting planning to promote light environments that are not only energy efficient and meet technical requirements, but also cater for increased user comfort. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-02-022 Full Text: PD
The Role of Technology in the Learning Process: A Decision Tree-Based Model Using Machine Learning
Get PDFMachine learning approaches may establish a complex and non-linear relationship among input and response variables for the assessment of the Basic Education Development Index (IDEB) database and show indicators that may contribute to monitoring the quality of education. This paper uses extensive experimental databases from public schools, consisting of a case study in Brazil, to analyze data such as the physical and technological structure of schools and teacher profiles. The research proposes decision tree-based machine learning models for predictions of the best attributes to positively contribute to IDEB. It employs a newly developed SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) approach to classify input variables, so to identify variables that impact the most the final model; a non-probabilistic sample was used, composed from three official databases of 450 schools, and 617 teachers. Results show that the number of computers per student, teachers' service time, broadband internet access, investments in technology training for teachers, and computer labs in schools are the variables that have the greatest effect on IDEB. The model applied shows high prediction accuracy for test data (MSE = 0.2094 and R² = 0.8991). This article contributes to improving efficiency when monitoring parameters used to measure the quality of a teaching-learning process. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2022-SIED-020 Full Text: PD
The Role of Cultural and Institutional Distances in International Trade
Get PDFDespite the effectiveness of the observed barriers such as taxes and quotas to adjust bilateral trade, they are still not well supported by governments in general and the World Trade Organization in particular. Therefore, in recent years, unobserved barriers have been critical tools to modify the trade flows between nations worldwide. China's exports account for a massive proportion of global trade. However, the role of cultural and institutional distance in China's trade flow has not been much explored. This study analyzes the impact of cultural and institutional differences on China's exports between 2006-2017 by adopting a system-GMM estimator. The main findings are, first, that cultural and institutional differences between China and its trading partners reduce China's exports. Second, cultural and institutional distances have the strongest influence on China's exports to high-income countries, followed by low-income countries, and finally middle-income countries. Third, manufactured products are the most sensitive to cultural and institutional distances. Based on these findings, several policies for China, as well as for emerging economies in general, are suggested for reducing cultural and institutional distances and boosting their exports. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-02-015 Full Text: PD
The Effects of COVID-19 on Informal Traders in Undesignated Spaces
Get PDFThe literature on COVID-19 impacts overlooks the pandemic' impact on informal traders who operate in undesignated public spaces. While studies on the impact of COVID-19 on informal traders exist, there remains little focus on how the socio-economic livelihood activities of informal traders in undesignated public spaces, such as parks, who rely on both domestic and international tourists as customers, have been impacted. This paper fills this gap by focusing on two case studies of urban public spaces in the city of Tshwane, South Africa. These spaces are Jubilee Square and Magnolia Dell Park. The study is predicated on the spatial triad framework which enables it to interrogate how the restriction on access and utilisation of public spaces during the COVID-19 lockdown impacted on the socio-economic activities of informal traders. It found that informal traders in these two parks were the most vulnerable category of traders during the COVID-19 lockdown and faced huge socio-economic and livelihood challenges. They lost their income sources and had their social networks disrupted. The article proposes social policy interventions in the governance of public spaces as part of an effort to save both lives and livelihoods in the face of a pandemic. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-SPER-07 Full Text: PD
Factors Affecting Business Angels Investment in Vietnam
Get PDFThe paper aims at investigating and comparing the factors determining investment decisions by business angels (BAs) from the viewpoints of BAs and startups in Vietnam based on a framework synthesized from a literature review and primary data from in-depth interviews conducted with 8 startups and 15 angel investors. The results show that the startups' founder, working team, financial issues, product and market, and strategy related to exit and the roles of BAs are startup-related factors determining BAs' investment in Vietnam. For BA-related factors, the BAs' experience, investment objectives and preferences, and culture are key determinants. The novelty of the paper is to find out the gaps between the perspectives of BAs and startups, and the difference between Vietnamese and foreign BAs' viewpoints. The finding is that BAs, more strictly than startups, assess their business plan, financial state, product, market, and targeted consumers. Startups neglect the exit strategy and role of BAs in invested startups. In addition, foreign and domestic BAs have different opinions on startups' market scale, and expectation of profits and BAs' roles in startups. The paper ends by providing some implications for Vietnamese startups to attract more angel investment, focusing on improving the quality of human resources, developing a profitable, honest, and realistic business plan, and setting up a long-run vision towards the global market. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-02-07 Full Text: PD
Numerical Schemes for Fractional Energy Balance Model of Climate Change with Diffusion Effects
Get PDFThis study aims to propose numerical schemes for fractional time discretization of partial differential equations (PDEs). The scheme is comprised of two stages. Using von Neumann stability analysis, we ensure the robustness of the scheme. The energy balance model for climate change is modified by adding source terms. The local stability analysis of the model is presented. Also, the fractional model in the form of PDEs with the effect of diffusion is given and solved by applying the proposed scheme. The proposed scheme is compared with the existing scheme, which shows a faster convergence of the presented scheme than the existing one. The effects of feedback, deep ocean heat uptake, and heat source parameters on global mean surface and deep ocean temperatures are displayed in graphs. The current study is cemented by the fact-based popular approximations of the surveys and modeling techniques, which have been the focus of several researchers for thousands of years.Mathematics Subject Classification:65P99, 86Axx, 35Fxx. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-03-011 Full Text: PD
Understanding Organizational Citizenship Behaviour through Organizational Justice and its Consequences among Vietnamese's Universities Employees
Get PDFThis paper aims to investigate the impact of organizational justice components on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB) of employees in the higher education sector of Vietnam. Although many research studies have been conducted in organizations on the topics of organizational justice, as well as organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviour, there is a shortage of these topics in higher education institutions as well as in Asian context. Therefore, this article attempts to fill this literature gap. A total of 317 employees from various universities in Vietnam participated in this study, and a self-administered survey was conducted, which was modified based on suggestions from the universities' management team following interviews. The collected data were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results showed that procedural justice and interactional justice had a significant impact on both job satisfaction and organizational commitment, while distributive justice only affected job satisfaction. Furthermore, the study found that job satisfaction and organizational commitment significantly affected OCB. However, this study had a limitation in terms of the narrow sample size, which only included participants from universities. Future studies should broaden the sample size to include participants from vocational colleges. On paper, the study shows the effects of organizational justice on OCB through the mediating roles of individual work outputs, which received inadequate attention in previous studies. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-SIED2-08 Full Text: PD
Metaverse Technology in Communication Practices: A Case Study of IT Products Retailers in the UAE
Get PDFIntroduction: Retail companies aim to provide their customers with improved customer support and public relations services. For this purpose, metaverse technology is one of the most preferred approaches to improving customers' buying and post-purchase experiences. Aims: This research also examined metaverse technology acceptance among the IT products and services companies in the United Arab Emirates. Methods: The researchers employed a self-proposed study model and used the structural equation modeling approach. Results: Results revealed that relative advantage significantly affects customer support and public relations. However, transparency does not affect customer service and public relations significantly, while the effect of perceived compatibility on customer support remained insignificant while public relations remained significant. Finally, the effect of public relations on metaverse technological acceptance remained insignificant. Besides, the effect of customer support on metaverse technology acceptance remained significant. Overall, the results supported the role of certain factors proposed by the diffusion of innovation theory in the context of PR and customer support, which is further accelerating the metaverse technology adoption among the IT retailers in the UAE. Conclusion: Thus, this study concludes that the role and adoption of metaverse technology not only highlight its acceptance but also address its importance in improving IT retail products and services. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-03-019 Full Text: PD