VGTU Journals (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University - Vilnius Tech)
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From uncertainty to opportunity: financial development as bridge to green innovation under economic policy uncertainty
No full textGreen innovation (GI) is increasingly recognized as an essential strategy for tackling urgent environmental issues, such as climate change, resource depletion, and pollution. While research is expanding on how economic policy uncertainty (EPU) affects GI, the influence of financial sector development (FSD) as a moderator in this context remains under-examined. To address this gap, we conduct an empirical analysis utilizing two decades of data (2000–2019) from five major emerging economies (BRICS). The study employs FMOLS and DOLS models to scrutinize the data. The findings indicate that EPU has a considerable adverse effect on GI, suggesting that uncertainty in economic policies can obstruct environmentally sustainable progress. In contrast, FSD demonstrates a notable positive association with green innovation, indicating that a robust financial sector can support and bolster these initiatives. Furthermore, the study identifies that FSD serves a crucial intermediary function in the EPU-GI connection. The policy implications of this study are significant, indicating that decision-makers should prioritize enhancing financial sector institutions to foster GI, particularly in times of heightened economic volatility. By providing new evidence regarding the dynamics between EPU, FSD, and GI, this investigation offers valuable insights for developing policies that harmonize economic stability with environmental sustainability.
First published online 1 April 202
Dreaming, insomnia, and choreographic creativity of young female dancers: a cross-sectional preliminary study
No full textHuman creative activities have been postulated to be related to insomnia and dreaming during sleep. The current preliminary cross-sectional study investigated the associations between insomnia, dreaming, and creativity of choreography in young female dancers. Forty-six female contemporary dancers were included in the present online study and divided into two groups, creative choreographic dancers and non-choreographers, according to their experienced professional roles. The frequency and contents of dreams and nightmares were collected from the participants. In the choreographer group, the frequency of nightmares was significantly correlated with sleep duration and quality among Athens insomnia scale variables. Choreographers also exhibited a significant correlation between the frequency of nightmares and positive thinking tendencies. The non-choreographer group similarly revealed a significant correlation between the frequency of nightmares and Athens insomnia scale variables. The present results suggest that creativity in dance choreography is related to dream frequency, although it is less associated with dream content. Nightmare is less associated with subjective insomnia in creative choreographic dancers than in non-creative dancers, implying the involvement of neuro-psychological mechanisms related to the resilience process. Future research should explore the characteristics of creativity and regular sleep quality and could benefit from including external physiological measures to evaluate sleep propensities
Assessment of causal relationship amid enablers of successful transition of management succession in family-owned businesses – a study of the South Asian Nations
No full textThe present study was done to evaluate the causal relationship amid the enablers of successful transition of management succession in family-owned business in South Asian Nations. This was an empirical study where owners of family-run business across various South Asian countries were interviewed. In this study we used the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach to examine the causal relationship among the twelve variables which were identified by examining the existing literature. The findings of the research demonstrated that formal education, well defined succession plan, early affiliation in business etc. formed the cause group and shared vision for future, active involvement of the successor/s in the succession process, tacit knowledge transfer, building trust and credibility in successors and competence over gender etc. formed the effect group
Sustainable investments: assessment of risks
No full textSustainable investments become a more and more relevant topic in all fields of economics. It is essential to measure both the benefits of sustainable products and risks. This article examines the risks associated with sustainable investments, mainly focusing on green bonds. It highlights financial institutions’ increasing interest in sustainable asset management, including central banks. The study addresses the complexity of integrating climate risk into existing risk management frameworks and the lack of tools for estimating and managing these effects. This research aims to measure the volatility of different fixed-income financial instruments, trying to identify which GARCH model is the best. Our research utilizes Bloomberg data from eight sustainable corporate fixed-income indices. The study’s sample comprises sustainable investment indices within the fixed-income market, selected based on data availability and the representativeness of the asset class. The dataset includes daily closing prices and daily returns of these indices, covering a unified sample period from July 25, 2019, to September 28, 2022. The models used for the research are ARCH, GARCH, TGARCH, EGARCH, and PARCH. The results show that sustainable investments are not risk-free, emphasizing the need for comprehensive risk assessment and management. From the applied models, the results show that the PARCH model is the best for fixed-income indices volatility modeling
Evaluating the e-permit system in construction using stakeholder analysis and network theory
No full textElectronic building permit systems, integral to e-government services, aim to enhance the efficiency and user experience of the permit process. Despite their widespread adoption, these systems often fall short, complicating and delaying the process. The presence of a variety of stakeholders in such permit systems complicates interactions between actors; nevertheless, no research has examined permit systems from a stakeholder analysis approach. This gap is filled by a formal social network analysis that thoroughly investigates interconnected and multi-level governing systems. This study investigates the electronic building permit system’s successes and failures in the construction industry. A mixed-methods approach was used, including interviews with applicants and employees, process mining analysis of event logs from 50 projects, case study observation, and social network analysis. The findings highlight significant barriers: poor communication and coordination among different agency employees, and a lack of adherence to established timeframes. Additionally, the study reveals that these systems are largely automated versions of their traditional counterparts, lacking substantial redesign or restructuring. Consequently, the researchers recommend a thorough re-evaluation and redesign of the electronic building permit system and propose implementing a one-stop-shop platform to facilitate inter-agency collaboration and streamline both internal and external communications and coordination
Evaluating complexity of construction precast component: empirical study in Taiwan
No full textCompanies in the construction precast industry usually face lack of skilled manpower, overtime working, and complexity of manpower allocation. The objective of this research is to identify the complexity of precast components using Swarm-Inspired Projection (SIP) algorithm. After conducting a comprehensive literature review regarding precast production, clustering, classification, cost management, manpower allocation, and optimization, expertise from field/head-quarter supervision leads the way to SIP algorithm that drives collected data converted to certain clusters. Data collection was carried out to gather over 90% precast construction data in Taiwan for the recent decade. A total of 1,015,840 datasets were collected and then 772,212 datasets were taken into computation SIP algorithm after data filtering. Evaluation and comparison of models reveal SIP’s remarkable efficiency, halving processing time while delivering superior results. The study identifies four complexity tiers linked to the manufacturing of building precast elements. Significant variations exist among these tiers, with workload increments of 18.22%, 11.71%, and 30.08% between Level 1 and 2, Level 2 and 3, and Level 3 and 4, respectively
Methodology for assessing and controlling the risk grade of structural columns threatened by blast incident
No full textColumns are important structural components and are threatened by local conflicts and explosion accidents. This paper presents a fuzzy-based risk assessment framework to evaluate the potential blast disasters associated with structural columns. The framework establishes an indicator system and incorporates risk functions and a fuzzy transformation system for blast risk assessment. The priority weights of critical attributes are determined using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) approach, and the risk factor (RF) is calculated via the aggregation of foundational fuzzy evaluations. The feasibility and applicability of the framework are demonstrated through the risk level assessment of five example columns. The framework’s rationality is further validated by comparing the onrisk grades of identical cases, as assessed by the proposed framework and alternative methods. The study results indicated that the framework can effectively discern the risk range of desired grade rankings and ascertain the risk grade. By integrating the obtained attribute ranking and hierarchical structure, the framework facilitates the identification of potent strategies for controlling blast risk. The resulting risk-grade findings serve as a foundation for the identification of priority protection and anti-explosion design of structural columns
Development of a method of surface water content research using ultraviolet rays
No full textIt is known that the process of water treatment in surface water bodies requires the development of advanced and effective technologies for the destruction of harmful microorganisms and viruses. The aim of the present study is to develop a method for the investigation of surface water content. As a result of the study, the electronic circuit of the purification device using ultraviolet rays was developed. The energy and spectral characteristics were experimentally investigated and the economic efficiency of the ultraviolet ray device was determined, taking into account the basic sanitary and hygienic requirements for the organisation of ultraviolet water disinfection. It is substantiated, that the developed scheme provides safety of conditions of work of the personnel with the equipment
GIS based ground water assessment of Nilakkottai Taluk, Tamil Nadu, India: hydrogeochemistry and statistical perspective
No full textWater quality is imperative for drinking and agriculture purposes in order to meet the increasing requirements for water. The systematic assessment of groundwater quality in Nilakkottai Taluk, Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu, was performed. In order to ascertain the quality of the study area’s groundwater, various water quality indices, spatial distribution maps, multivariate statistical analysis, and hydrofacies diagrams have been contemplated. 40 samples were collected and analysed for 20 water quality parameters, using the standard techniques. The quality results of the irrigation analysis showed that the groundwater samples were satisfactory for agricultural use. The deduction of four principal components denotes that hydrogeochemical processes and anthropogenic inputs were the main controlling factors. The durov plot demonstrated the dominance of Ca-HCO3 type groundwater, indicating a weathering process through fresh water recharge. This study insisted that majority of the samples satisfactory for crop yield and need to be protected from further contamination
Automatic monitoring of treated water released from wastewater treatment plants using model-based clustering with density estimation
No full textOne of the most promising efforts to fight against the water scarcity threat is to reuse the treated water released from WasteWater Treatment Plants (WWTP). The objective of this paper is to propose an integrated approach for continuously evaluating the performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), with a focus on treated wastewater quality assessment and reuse of treated water for beneficial purposes like irrigation, aquarium, groundwater recharge, and in river water discharge based on pollution level in treated water. This paper implemented a model-based clustering with density estimation to generate the non-overlapped clusters to categorize the clusters. Cluster analysis using the Euclidean distance resulted in three clusters labeled under a specified category of water polluted: non-polluted, lightly polluted, highly polluted or slightly polluted. Unlike standard clustering algorithms like K-means, hierarchical that produce optimized clusters in statistical terms that deviate from naturally categorized clusters, model-based clustering with density estimation operates on the assumption that each data object originates from the mixture of underlying probability distributions. Water quality parameters like suspended solids (SS) have been considered for the analysis. Our experimental results conclusively show the polluted levels of wastewater from WWTP using a model-based clustering approach. The Dataset used in this work has been derived from the wastewater treatment plant located in Manresa, a town of 100,000 inhabitants near Barcelona (Catalonia). The plant treats a flow of 35,000 m3/day, mainly domestic wastewater, although wastewater from industries located inside the town is received in the plant too. In this research, the plant’s behavior over 527 days are under consideration. Model-based density clustering algorithm discovers 3 clusters, with half lying in size range of 14–89 and a maximum size of 352. With the help of natural clusters generated, our results show that out of 445 days, in 352 days, the treated water is almost non-polluted. By this, we can assess the performance of the wastewater treatment plant