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Until recently, many countries’ policies were motivated by economic growth; however, few strategies were developed to prevent environmental deterioration including reducing the ecological footprint. In this context, the purpose of this study was to analyze the role of natural resource rents, technological innovation, and financial development on the ecological footprint in 90 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) economies. This research divided the BRI economies into high income, middle-income, and low-income levels to capture income differences. This research used the second-generation panel unit root, cointegration, and augmented mean group estimators to calculate the robust and reliable outcomes. Based on the annual data from 1991 to 2018, the findings show that natural resource rents drastically damage the quality of the environment, whereas technological innovations are helpful in reducing ecological footprint. Moreover, the outcome of the interaction term (natural resource rents and technological innovations) negatively impacts the ecological footprint. Interestingly, these findings were similar in the three income groups. In addition, financial development improved environmental quality in the middle-income BRI economies, but reduced it in high-income, low-income, and full sample countries. Furthermore, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) concept has been validated across all BRI economies. Policymakers in BRI countries should move resources away from resource-rich sectors of industries/manufacturing sectors to enhance/promote economic growth and use these NRRs efficiently for a progressive, sustainable environment. Based on these findings, several efficient policy suggestions are proposed.

Familiar controversies in the management of head and neck melanomas are more remarkable in locally advanced cases, and they represent a treatment challenge both surgically and oncologically. In our retrospective study, patients with surgically treated primary malignant melanoma of the head and neck region larger than 3 cm in diameter were included. Five patients met our inclusion criteria. In all cases, wide excision and immediate reconstruction were performed without sentinel lymph node biopsy. The defect on the scalp was covered by a split skin graft, with local flaps chosen for reconstruction on the face on an individual basis. After a 2–6 year follow-up, a good oncological, functional, and esthetic result was achieved. Our results show that in the case of large, locally advanced melanomas, surgical treatment still plays a crucial role that can provide long-term local control and support the effect of systemic treatment.

DJ-1, a multi-functional protein with antioxidant properties, protects dopaminergic neurons against Parkinson’s disease (PD). The oligomerization/assembly of alpha-synuclein (SYN), promoted by Tubulin Polymerization Promoting Protein (TPPP/p25), is fatal in the early stage of PD. The pathological assembly of SYN with TPPP/p25 inhibits their proteolytic degradation. In this work, we identified DJ-1 as a new interactive partner of TPPP/p25, and revealed its influence on the association of TPPP/p25 with SYN. DJ-1 did not affect the TPPP/p25-derived tubulin polymerization, however, it did impede the toxic assembly of TPPP/p25 with SYN. The interaction of DJ-1 with TPPP/p25 was visualized in living human cells by fluorescence confocal microscopy coupled with Bifunctional Fluorescence Complementation (BiFC). While the transfected DJ-1 displayed homogeneous intracellular distribution, the TPPP/p25-DJ-1 complex was aligned along the microtubule network. The anti-aggregative effect of DJ-1 on the pathological TPPP/p25-SYN assemblies was established by the decrease in the intensity of their intracellular fluorescence (BiFC signal) and the increase in the proteolytic degradation of SYN complexed with TPPP/p25 due to the DJ-1-derived disassembly of SYN with TPPP/p25. These data obtained with HeLa and SH-SY5Y cells revealed the protective effect of DJ-1 against toxic SYN assemblies, which assigns a new function to the antioxidant sensor DJ-1.

The development of second-hand bookstores has received ample attention in the book industry. However, research on their operational strategies is still in its infancy, especially concerning how they compete with new bookstores. We used the Hotelling model to investigate second-hand bookstores’ differentiation strategy. We analyzed how product mismatch problems and consumer preferences affect bookstores’ strategies and profits. We came to three major conclusions. First, second-hand bookstores can effectively compete with new bookstores using a product differentiation strategy. Moreover, it is better to set high prices for special old books. Second, a higher breadth and depth of mismatching will increase revenue for second-hand bookstores and lower revenue for new bookstores. Third, new bookstores’ profit decreases with consumers’ preferences for special old books, while the influence of such preferences on the second-hand bookstores’ profits depends on the transportation cost. These findings provide valuable insights for second-hand bookstores to compete with new bookstores. An important implication of this study is that using a differentiation strategy for second-hand bookstores needs to consider the mismatch problems and consumers’ preferences.

The sustainable environment has been a desired situation around the world for the last few decades. Environmental contaminations can be a consequence of various economic activities. Different socio-economic factors influence the environment positively or negatively. Many previous studies have resulted in the efficient allocation of inputs as an environment-friendly component. This paper investigates the effects of energy efficiency on ecological footprint in the ASEAN region using balanced panel data from 2001 to 2019. First, this paper technically derives the energy effi-ciency, using the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) of the translog production type of single output and multiple inputs. Findings of the SFA show that the Philippines and Singapore have the highest energy efficiency (94%) and Laos has the lowest energy efficiency (85%) in the ASEAN region. The estimated average efficiency score of the ASEAN region was around 90%, ranging from 85% to 96%, indicating that there is still 10% room for improvement in energy efficiency. Second, this study employed the panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to explore the short run and long run impact of technically derived energy efficiency on ecological footprint in the ASEAN region. Results of the panel ARDL model show that energy efficiency is a reducing factor of ecological footprint in the long run. Moreover, energy efficiency plays a significant role to control the environmental contaminations. In addition, results of this study also explored that urbanization is an increasing factor of ecological footprint, and investment in agriculture is also beneficial for the environment. Moreover, to obtain the directional nature of the associations between the ecological footprint and its independent variables, this paper has employed the paired-panel Granger causality test. The results of the paired wise panel Granger causality test also confirm that the energy efficiency, ur-banization, and investment in agriculture cause ecological footprint. Finally, this study recom-mends that efficient utilization of energy resources as well as investment in agriculture are neces-sary for sustainable environment. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Funding: Project no. 132805 has been implemented with support provided from the National Research, Development, and Innovation Fund of Hungary, financed under the K_19 funding scheme and supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (BO/00095/18 and BO/8/20).

Whether better infrastructure influences Chinese export sophistication (ES) and diversification (ED) is an important question, which surprisingly remains unaddressed. The current study contributes to the ES and ED literature by capturing the symmetric and asymmetric effect of infrastructure on ES and ED. We employ a robust dynamically simulated autoregressive distributed lag (DYS-ARDL) dynamic method, which is an extended version of NARDL and ARDL. The major aim of this new DYS-ARDL dynamic approach was to abolish the issue in orthodox ARDL model approach while examining the long-run and short-run. The new dynamic DYS-ARDL model is accomplished in estimating, stimulating, and robotically plotting predictions of counterfactual alterations in one explanatory variable and its impact on the dependent variable while holding the remaining regressors constant. Furthermore, this new method of DYS-ARDL model can estimate, stimulate, and plot to forecast graphs of positive and negative variations in the variables robotically as well as their short and long-run associations. Interestingly, the results of this study witness the presence of long-run relationship between infrastructure and ES and ED in China. The present study shows that better infrastructure will be more beneficial for Chinese ED and ES. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

In this modern age of digitalization, consumers have access to an ample amount of information regarding a product&rsquo, s quality and benefits, which makes consumers more conscious of their consumption patterns and their impact on social and environmental development. Likewise, marketing strategies have also taken a dramatic leap forward and started focusing on social responsibility, ethics, and environmental protection. The notion of environmental sustainability has created a market niche over several decades and has captured the market of pro-environmental consumers. However, there are still many latent factors that are obstacles to shifting the behavior of consumers towards buying green products. The present study was conducted to recognize factors that affect the consumers&rsquo, behavior when purchasing eco-friendly products. They were collected from 1185 university students in Hungary. To analyze the data, multiple regression and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used. The results showed that willingness to pay (WTP) and green purchase intention (GPI) are the chief factors that affect the green purchase behavior (GPB) of these students. Environmental knowledge (EK) also has an important and positive impact on the green purchase behavior (GPB) of consumers, although regarding demographic variables, no such influence was noted. To conclude, the study showed that there was no bias in terms of age, gender, or qualification in the behavior of young students, as they have sufficient knowledge of environmental problems and are very willing to pay for environmentally friendly products. This study will create self-awareness among young consumers about their environmentally friendly purchasing behavior. This research will further benefit policymakers and marketers of the EU and Hungary to enhance their marketing strategies to promote their green products and their benefits. Future research can be developed on this theoretical framework and will help academicians to further reduce the research gap by using different constructs and methodologies.

The purpose of innovation is to consume fewer natural resources in order to create sustainable performance; therefore, innovation can ease the pressure of the ecological load and promote the sustainable development of the economy. Taking the 269 enterprises listed on the main board of the electronic information industry from 2010 to 2019 as samples, using the threshold panel data model, the nonlinear relationship between the knowledge-based network structure hole and the short-term and long-term innovation performance of the enterprises were studied, and the threshold effect of R&D investment intensity was discussed. When the R&D investment intensity is from 1.96% to 15.96%, the knowledge-based network structure hole has a significant positive impact on short-term innovation performance. When the R&D investment intensity is from 5.72% to 10.64%, the knowledge-based network structure hole has a significant positive effect on long-term innovation performance. Lower R&D investment intensity can make the knowledge-based network structure hole promote the increase of short term innovation performance, but to make the knowledge-based network structure hole have a positive impact on long term innovation performance, the R&D investment intensity should be increased by more than 5.72%. When R&D investment intensity is not higher than 15.96%, the knowledge-based network structure hole has a significant positive impact on short term innovation performance, but to make the knowledge-based network structure hole maintain the positive effect on long term innovation performance, R&D investment intensity should not exceed 10.64%. Therefore, enterprises should be guided to optimize the knowledge-based network structure according to the R&D investment intensity in order to improve the short term and long-term innovation performance of an enterprise. These research results can help enterprises to save resources and promote the sustainable development of the economy.

Global grain production needs a significant increase in output in the coming decades in order to cover the food and feed consumption needs of mankind. As sustainability is the key factor in production, the authors investigate global grain production, the losses along the value chain, and future solutions. Global wheat, maize, rice, and soybean production peaked at 2.102 million tons (mt) of harvested grain in 2018. Pre-harvest losses due to diseases, animal pests, weeds, and abiotic stresses and harvest destroy yearly amount to about 35% of the total possible biological product of 3.153 mt, with 1051.5 mt being lost before harvest. The losses during harvest and storage through toxin contamination are responsible for 690 mt, with a total of 1.741 mt or 83% of the total newly stored grain. Limited cooperation can be experienced between scientific research, plant breeding, plant protection, agronomy, and society, and in addition, their interdependence is badly understood. Plant breeding can help to reduce a significant part of field loss up to 300 mt (diseases, toxins, water and heat stress) and up to 220 mt during storage (toxin contamination). The direct and indirect impact of pest management on production lead to huge grain losses. The main task is to reduce grain losses during production and storage and consumption. Better harvest and storage conditions could prevent losses of 420 mt. The education of farmers by adopting the vocational school system is a key issue in the prevention of grain loss. In addition, extension services should be created to demonstrate farmers crop management in practice. A 50% reduction of grain loss and waste along the value chain seems to be achievable for the feeding 3−4 billion more people in a sustainable way without raising genetic yields of crop cultivars.

From an idealistic viewpoint, the existence of the tourism industry in a country/region is a blessing because of its anticipated sustainable economic benefits. To turn this idealistic state into a realistic one, institutions need to play a pivotal role in optimizing the desired incentives. The present study examines the asymmetric role of institutional quality in stimulating tourism inflows (receipts and arrivals) in selected Asia Pacific countries involved in tourism. The previous literature has established that improving institutional quality attracts tourism inflows to a destination. However, the literature fails to identify the specific point (threshold level) above (below) which the relationship turns positive (negative). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that estimates the asymmetries in the nexus of institutions and tourism inflows, using robust nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag approach. Our results show that the tourism inflow in Asian Pacific countries responds asymmetrically to any changes in institutional quality, and there is a single threshold of 7.52 points, where the impact of institutional quality reverses. We conclude that our findings are robust to the alternative measures of tourism inflows. The study offers useful policy inputs for devising short and long-run policies for the betterment of the institutional framework in the region by understanding the asymmetric impact of institutional quality on tourism inflow.

Calcium electroporation (Ca-EP) is a new anticancer treatment providing similar features to electrochemotherapy (ECT). The aim of our study is to compare the efficacy of Ca-EP with bleomycin-based ECT. This double-blinded randomized controlled phase II study was conducted at the Medical University of Szeged, Hungary. During this once only treatment up to ten measurable cutaneous metastases per patient were separately block randomized for intratumoral delivery of either calcium or bleomycin, which was followed by reversible electroporation. Tumour response was evaluated clinically and histologically six months after treatment. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03628417, closed). Seven patients with 44 metastases (34 from malignant melanoma, 10 from breast cancer) were included in the study. Eleven metastases were taken for biopsies, and 33 metastases were randomised and treated once. The objective response rates were 33% (6/18) for Ca-EP and 53% (8/15) for bleomycin-based ECT, with 22% (4/18) and 40% (6/15) complete response rates, respectively. The CR was confirmed histologically in both arms. Serious adverse events were not registered. Ulceration and hyperpigmentation, both CTCA criteria grade I side effects, were observed more frequently after bleomycin-based ECT than for Ca-EP. Ca-EP was non-inferior to ECT, therefore, it should be considered as a feasible, effective and safe treatment option.

Financial Inclusion is a key factor in achieving the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. The research in the area of financial inclusion is becoming more critical for scholars and policymakers. In previous studies, effects of formal institutions on financial inclusion have been explored. However, influence of informal institutions (culture) on financial inclusion remained untapped. To fill this gap, we investigate how national culture affects the financial inclusion of 81 Belt and Road economies using 17 years of data from 2004 to 2020. The empirical findings of the two-stage least square (2SLS) show that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are significantly associated with financial inclusion with different signs and levels of magnitude. We find that financial inclusion is lower in countries where uncertainty avoidance and power distance is high and that the opposite is true for individualism and masculinity. The overall results are reliable to a series of robustness checks and provide a useful basis for policymakers, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders in achieving the sustainable development goal of financial inclusion in Belt and Road countries. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, HUST We are grateful for the profound ethical and technical support given by Muhammad Asif Khan, University of Kotli, Azad Jammu, and Kashmir, Muhammad Atif Khan, University of Kotli, Azad Jammu, and Kashmir, and Mirza Muhammad Naseer School of Economics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Atta Ullah School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a destructive affair for both workplace and community. However, with the strengthen of global anti-pandemic measures, COVID-19 becomes the norm and there is an increased trend for people to reflect on life or death. Moreover, regardless of its facilitating role in advancing organizational behavior (OB) study, very few studies empirically examine the effects of death reflection in the work domain. Drawing on the generativity theory, we identify how death reflection influences employees’ in-role and extra-role performance under the COVID-19 pandemic. A longitudinal study is performed by using multi-source data from 387 employees in China. Our results reveal that the COVID-19-triggered death reflection is associated with the stronger in-role performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. We find that duty orientation is the mechanism that can explain the effects of the COVID-19-triggered death reflection on employees’ work behaviors. Furthermore, employees who reflect on death with high (vs. low) career and calling orientations tend to have higher in-role and extra-role performance, while employees who reflect on death with low (vs. high) job orientation are likely to have lower in-role and extra-role performance.

The optimization of the energy portfolio for a small, open, landlocked economy with rather limited fossil resources is a complex task because it must find a long-range, sustainable balance between the various goals of society under the constant pressure of different interest groups. The opinions of independent, informed experts could be an essential input in the decision-making process. The goal of this research was to determine the relative importance of the values and goals potentially accompanying projects, based on the utilization of bioenergy. The current research is based on a wide-ranging survey of 65 non-partisan experts, applying the Pareto analytic hierarchy process to ensure the unbiased prioritization of project segments. The results of the survey put a spotlight on the importance of the economic role of bioenergy projects. Contrary to previous expectations and considerations, the social functions of these projects have hitherto been given relatively little importance. The results highlight the importance of bioenergy in increasing the income-generating capacity of agricultural producers by optimal utilization of natural resources for agricultural production. This can be achieved without considerable deterioration of the natural environment. Modern agricultural production is characterized by high levels of mechanization and automatization. Under these conditions, the social role of bioenergy projects (job creation) is rather limited.

Equity markets play a pivotal role in the sustainability of developing countries, such as China. The literature on the detection of herding biases is confined to the aggregate level (firms, sector/industry and market). The present study adds to the behavioral finance literature by addressing the surprisingly unnoticed phenomena of the behavioral impact of herding bias on firm value (FV) at the firm level, using the sample of A-Shares listed firms at the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges (SSE and SZSE) under panel fixed effect specification. Initially, we detect the existence of investors and managers herding (IHR and MHR) biases at firm-level, and later, we examine their impact (distinct and interactive) upon the FV. The empirical results document the presence of IHR and MHR bias at market, sector and firm-level in both equity markets, which potentially drive the FV, while the impact is more pronounced during the extreme trading period. The findings are robust under different time intervals, and industry classification, therefore, offers useful policy implications to understand the behavioral dynamics of investors and managers.

Industry 4.0 is a concept that originated from the German industry, and whose essence is the use of technology for efficient production. In business today, the emergence of Industry 4.0 for production, and its related technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems, amongst others, have, however, a negative impact on environmental sustainability as a result of air pollution, the poor discharge of waste, and the intensive use of raw materials, information, and energy. The method used in this study is an analysis of a literature review of manuscripts discussing topics related to Industry 4.0 and environmental sustainability published between 2000 and 2020. There is currently a gap existing between the actual and the desired situation, in that production occurs in a weak sustainability model, and, therefore, this research debates the effects on environmental sustainability and the challenges facing Industry 4.0. Four scenarios are discussed: a deployment scenario, an operation scenario, integration and compliance with sustainable development goals, and a long-run scenario. The results indicate that there is a negative relationship related to the flow of the production process from the inputs to the final product, including raw materials, energy requirements, information, and waste disposal, and their impacts on the environment. However, the integration of Industry 4.0 and the sustainable development goals enhance environmental sustainability to create ecological support that guarantees high environmental performance with a more positive impact than before. This paper will help stakeholders and companies to provide solutions to the existing environmental challenges that can be mediated through adopting new technologies. The novelty of this study is its depiction of Industry 4.0 and its technologies integrated with sustainable development goals to create a sustainable Industry 4.0 combining environmental protection and sustainability.

China’s huge investment in the “belt and road initiative” (BRI) may have helped improve the economic level of participating countries, but it may also be accompanied by a substantial increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The BRI corridors aim to bring regional stability and prosperity. In such efforts, energy efficiency due to increased transport has been overlooked in the recent literature. This paper employed a data envelopment analysis of the slack-based measurement (SBM) for bad output to assess the transport energy efficiency of 19 countries under the BRI economic corridors. By using the most cited transport-related input variables, such as vehicles, labor, motor oil, jet fuel, and natural gas, this study first analyzes the transport energy efficiency by first assuming the output variables individually and then takes two years as a pre- and post-BRI case by considering the aggregated output model. The results show an increase in economic activity but a decline in transport energy efficiency in terms of consumption and emissions.

The bioethanol sector is an extremely complex set of actors, technologies and market structures, influenced simultaneously by different natural, economic, social and political processes. That is why it lends itself to the application of system dynamics modelling. In last five years a relatively high level of experience and knowledge has accumulated related to the application of computer-aided system modelling for the analysis and forecasting of the bioethanol sector. The goal of the current paper is to offer a systematic review of the application of system dynamics models in order to better understand the structure, conduct and performance of the bioethanol sector. Our method has been the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA), based on English-language materials published between 2015 and 2020. The results highlight that system dynamic models have become more and more complex, but as a consequence of the improvement in information technology and statistical systems, as well as the increasing experience gained they offer an efficient tool for decision makers in the business and political spheres. In the future, the combination of traditional system dynamics modelling and agent-based models will offer new perspectives for the preparation of more sophisticated description and forecasting.

Quality of life is one of the most important areas of human well-being explored worldwide. The issue of quality of life, namely its quantification, is a current topic evidenced by a number of literary sources in the literature. We solved this issue in the conditions of the Slovak Republic and within this problem, we analyzed the development of the quality of life parameters for each self-governing region of Slovakia. We calculated a Quality of Life Index for the regions of Slovakia using selected indicators. We compared the quality of life in the regions of Slovakia and selected parameters suitable for calculating the overall index together with the methodology of the index’s creation. We found that there are statistically significant differences between regions, in terms of economic, social and environmental factors. The assessment of the quality of life in the regions of Slovakia, as well as the assessment of the quality of life also on the level of Slovakia, even internationally, is an important aspect affecting the further development of society and the existence of humanity itself.

The sensing, integrating, and coordinating features of the eukaryotic cells are achieved by the complex ultrastructural arrays and multifarious functions of the cytoskeleton, including the microtubule network. Microtubules play crucial roles achieved by their decoration with proteins/enzymes as well as by posttranslational modifications. This review focuses on the Tubulin Polymerization Promoting Protein (TPPP/p25), a new microtubule associated protein, on its “regulatory functions by day and pathological functions at night”. Physiologically, the moonlighting TPPP/p25 modulates the dynamics and stability of the microtubule network by bundling microtubules and enhancing the tubulin acetylation due to the inhibition of tubulin deacetylases. The optimal endogenous TPPP/p25 level is crucial for its physiological functions, to the differentiation of oligodendrocytes, which are the major constituents of the myelin sheath. Pathologically, TPPP/p25 forms toxic oligomers/aggregates with α-synuclein in neurons and oligodendrocytes in Parkinson’s disease and Multiple System Atrophy, respectively; and their complex is a potential therapeutic drug target. TPPP/p25-derived microtubule hyperacetylation counteracts uncontrolled cell division. All these issues reveal the anti-mitotic and α-synuclein aggregation-promoting potency of TPPP/p25, consistent with the finding that Parkinson’s disease patients have reduced risk for certain cancers.

Although carp farming had a key role in the Blue Revolution at a global level, European carp aquaculture has stagnated over the past 25 years without achieving any productivity gains. The objective of this study was to identify the factors and mechanisms constraining production and productivity growth in pond-based carp farming in Hungary, as the country is a good representative of the EU pond-based farming sector. By using data from 44 carp farms, different specifications of the Cobb-Douglas production function were parameterized to investigate the determinants of yields and to assess the extent of economies of scale. Descriptive statistics show that large differences exist in productivity between individual farms, meaning that it is hard to implement technical standards and to ensure repeatability in extensive carp farming technology. Econometric analysis demonstrates that economies of scale do not prevail in pond-based farming in Hungary, so a concentration of farms would not stimulate a growth in carp farming. This may explain the stagnation of carp aquaculture, as the only European aquaculture segments which can grow are those that can exploit economies of scale. Further analysis demonstrates that labour is an important factor of production, and a decreasing workforce may constrain the intensification process of production. On the other hand, mechanisation did not prove to be a significant contributing factor to yields, indicating that large investment in equipment has a limited role in carp farming.

Many developing countries are facing high levels of unemployment and most people who are employed are poorly remunerated due to low skills and productivity levels. Although jobs are important, a productive job is even more important, not only for employees, but also for employers. South Africa, being a developing country, is also facing the challenge of dramatically high levels of unemployment. This study&rsquo, s aim was to examine both the short- and long-term impacts of real wages, labour productivity and investment spending on employment absorption rates in South Africa. To establish the existing relationship between variables, the study applied several econometric approaches, such as an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, error correction model (ECM) and a Toda&ndash, Yamamoto causality analysis on quarterly time series data from 1995Q1 to 2019Q1. The results revealed the existence of both short- and long-run relationships among the variables. While a positive relationship was found between employment absorption, investment spending and labour productivity, it was found that real wages negatively impact on long-run employment absorption rates. Additionally, the short-run analysis indicated that the lagged employment absorption rate influences the current rate of employment. Furthermore, the causality tests indicated that a bi-directional causal relationship exists between employment absorption and investment spending, and a uni-directional relationship between employment and both real wages and labour productivity. Based on the findings, the study recommends increments of investment spending and labour productivity that enables the South African economy to carry out more activities that would require more workers, thereby improving the employment absorption rate. The fact that labour productivity positively impacts the employment absorption rate infers the requirement for quality and skilled workers to be absorbed in the South African labour market. Therefore, labour skills improvements appear to be a prerequisite for productivity enhancement and job creation.

Banks must meet the needs of their customers in order to achieve sustainable development. The aim of this paper is to examine service quality dimensions, by using the modified SERVQUAL model, which can be used to measure customer satisfaction, and the effect of these dimensions (tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, assurance, reliability, access, financial aspect, and employee competences) on customer satisfaction in Jordanian banks. Data were gathered from 825 customers in the Jordanian banking sector. The sample data were statistically analyzed through exploratory factor analysis by the SPSS program to determine service quality perception and customer satisfaction. The results illustrate that the modified SERVQUAL Model extracted four subscales in the new model instead of eight in the initial model. The first subscale contains four dimensions&mdash, assurance, reliability, access and employee competences. The second subscale consists of two dimensions&mdash, responsiveness and empathy. The third and fourth subscales&mdash, financial aspect and tangibility&mdash, are separate factors. Further studies should consider the dimensions of access, financial aspect, and employee competences as essential parts of service quality dimensions with the other subscales, so as to improve wider customer satisfaction in the banking sector. In the authors&rsquo, opinion, the modified SERVQUAL model is useful for addressing customer satisfaction in the banking sector.