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A smart city uses information and technology to provide a better quality of government service and citizen well being. A smart country also considers conditions to measure human development. In this paper, we use fuzzy similarity measures to determine the similarity of the rankings of countries and cities with respect to country human develop, city human development, and smart city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nephrolithiasis, or kidney stone disease, presents a significant global health burden, with global incidence rates and treatment practices varying widely. This study aims to discuss the epidemiology, risk factors, treatment modalities, and challenges for nephrolithiasis in the lower half of the World Bank rankings; that is, in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted using PubMed for each country on the list, focusing on studies published from January 2000 onwards and reporting data on prevalence, risk factors, treatment practices, and economic implications. Results: Nephrolithiasis represents a significant burden for healthcare systems, with noteworthy geographical variability in prevalence possibly dependent on socioeconomic status and gender. Risk factors include dietary habits, climate, pollution, and infectious diseases. Treatment practices in some regions still rely on open surgery due to limited access to advanced endourological techniques, while other regions demonstrate high proactivity in research. The burden is exacerbated by inadequate healthcare infrastructure and training. Conclusions: Addressing nephrolithiasis in challenging economic circumstances requires targeted interventions, including improved access to modern treatment methods, enhanced training for healthcare professionals, and better socioeconomic and environmental conditions. Future research should focus on region-specific strategies and the development of sustainable healthcare solutions.

Digitalisation has been transforming industries around the world and impacting economies. The pace of digital transformation across countries has been asymmetric. This study examines digitalisation's impact on African countries' economic growth. Digitalisation is expected to improve operational efficiency, productivity, better communications, and enhanced consumer experience, catalysing economic growth for African countries. For our research objectives, we employ data from forty African countries for the period of 2000-2020. Our results indicate that investments in digitalisation are expected to contribute to economic growth in African countries. Key proposals are provided in the paper's conclusion to promote Africa's sustainable economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capacity of distributed photovoltaic impacts the safe and reliable operation of the distribution feeders. The energy storage is one solution for addressing that challenge. To balance the financial viability of investing in the energy storage projects in distribution feeders with grid reliability, an optimal planning method for energy storage considering economy and reliability is proposed. First, an economic model is established. Second, a grid reliability simulation is performed based on the economic optimization results of energy storage capacity in distribution feeders. Finally, considering the comprehensive indexes of economy and reliability, the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution method is used, and the final scheme is determined by the cumulative distribution curve. The simulation results show that it can effectively improve the distributed photovoltaic consumption capacity of the distribution feeders and better balance the financial viability of investing in energy storage considering reliability, which can be used as a reference for the reasonable determination of ratios of the energy storage for renewables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseño y Comunicación is the property of Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios de Diseno y Comunicacion 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.)

What does the future hold for Africa's independent publishing sector? This Logos special issue brings together book publishers from across the continent and beyond to talk about their publishing passions. Through interviews with more than a dozen African publishers – many of whom are women – we hear about the challenges of running a dynamic publishing business on a shoestring. We explore generational changes in publishing practices, ask if small is always beautiful, and offer a vision of hope for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is the notion that can be summarized in the form in which it represents the process in which an enterprise from one country invests capital in an existing enterprise or in a new enterprise established in another country. The standard definition of foreign direct investment is given by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to which FDI is defined as the establishment of a lasting interest in and significant degree of influence over the operations of an enterprise in one economy by an investor in another economy. FDI has proven to have an expressed importance mainly in allowing the transfer of technology - especially in the form of new types of capital inputs - that cannot be achieved or at least in the form and volume required through financial investment or trade in goods and services. FDI has already proven that it can boost competition in the domestic input market, but also motivates the employment of domestic labor. In recent decades, the global map of inflow and outflow FDI has changed considerably. Traditionally, FDI originated from developed economies, which have recently gained significant ground in the share of FDI flows between geopolitically aligned economies. In particular during financial crises there is substantial evidence that FDI can lead many developing countries to consider it as an inflow of selected private capital and in certain cases even as a single capital inflow. Such a thing finds support in the tendency of economists who insist on the free flow of capital across national borders because it enables capital to have more favorable preconditions for return at the highest rate. However, the tradition has recently been changing, making the largest sector for FDI projects to be closely related to software and IT services. Investors see rising commodity prices, increased geopolitical unrest and political instability, as well as high inflation in an emerging market as the most likely risks at this time. The official data provided by World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), OECD, as well as the local National Bank and State Statistical Office are unanimous that in the last 20 years, North Macedonia has maintained a continuous increase in FDI, but unfortunately, at a comparative level with the countries of the region, it continues to lags behind. The North Macedonian authorities are progressing towards the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) objectives, including preserving public finances, reducing energy subsidies, tackling high inflation and ensuring financial stability, which will also increase the possibility real for FDI inflows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Transformations in Business & Economics is the property of Vilnius University 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.)

BRICS assemblies focus on politics and security, economics, and finance, and cultural and people -to-people exchange. Since these areas depend on global air transit and tourism, seamless movement is essential. Tourism fosters cultura l proximity and human encounters, benefiting nations and businesses. This study aims to analyse tourism and socio -economic dynamics considering globalisation and socio-economic structural factors. The study examines economic growth, travel, and financial success in BRICS nations. The panel data regression method is applied to highlight the relations between tourism and socio-economic indicators among BRICS and G7 countries. Temporal and territorial aspects and all regression studies were performed using the statistical modelling programme EViews 11. The study found inbound and outward connections between globalisation, dynamic socio-economic indicators, and each country's structural indicators. These tripartite aspects explained BRICS inbound and outward travel, but both are in constant change over time. Results show that the actual globalisation paradigm favours developed nations in the tourism sector, emerging BRICS nations show hopeful socio - economic structures, however they need to find new unique strategies to achieve a fair share of the new emerging world middle class tourism market. The old one is already taken by developed countries and they will fight to expand it.

Digital data infrastructures act as mediating technologies that shape and manipulate flows and visibilities. Focusing on the case of the Indian digital ID Aadhaar, this article proposes a theory of mediation as a conceptual framework for understanding the role of digital technology in projects for datafication of state governance and national economy. In 2016, the Indian biometric ID Aadhaar was instrumentalised in a nation-wide move towards digital monetary transfers, a campaign launched under the banner of 'demonetisation'. The digital state ID was integrated into Know Your Customer (KYC) systems of financial identification complicating government practices of recording and subjectivation. This process, during which government discourse explicitly drew parallels between political subjectivation and financial control, indicates the growing significance of the digital medium in shaping the relationship between states and their subjects. The notion of mediation proposed here addresses the mutual articulation between monetary transfers, practices of government recording and data valorisation in a context where state projects for digitalisation are increasingly integrated in global digital networks and data platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study reviewed the dynamics of new and open regionalism in Asia and the Pacific regions. It was highlighted that both in the Asia Pacific and Latin America, there is considerable confusion and ambiguity surrounding the notion of what “New Open Regionalism” is all about, which questions the relevance for practical purposes. The research approach primarily reviews various relevant literature in the field of study. Studies indicated that with few institutional or government-led initiatives, Asia's rapid economic expansion offered a strong basis for intra-regional trading and investment flows as well as inter-firm linkages. In terms of originality, No study has looked at the dynamics and the many uses and conceptions of the idea and investigated the contexts in which the concepts of "openness" and "regionalism" clash. For the implications, the article clarifies the possible relationship with both open regionalism and regional integration before asking under what circumstances regionalism might serve for the advancement of multilateralism. The study concluded that in a dynamic situation, it is difficult to determine whether regionalism and multilateralism complement each other. Much is determined by the design and content of the negotiated regional trade agreements (RTAs), as well as the characteristics of the member nations.

Based on electronic sources, reports from international organizations and official documents and mainly press and scientific articles, this article aims to present the effects of the global health crisis at Covid 19 on the system of production, distribution, consumption, and trade within the CE MAC zone located in the heart of Africa. It is an economic area made up of six nations (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Chad) most of whose economies are dependent on the agricultural sector and cross-border trade. Thus, the resurgence of Covid 19 has led these States to take rapid drastic measures (willy-nilly) through the restriction of the movement of people, goods and goods, the closure of borders or quite simply that of internal markets. And subregional. The rigor of these measures will push the various Member States of this international organization to adopt a certain number of measures aimed at reviving the economy of this area on the endogenous and external level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BRICS assemblies focus on politics and security, economics, and finance, and cultural and people -to-people exchange. Since these areas depend on global air transit and tourism, seamless movement is essential. Tourism fosters cultura l proximity and human encounters, benefiting nations and businesses. This study aims to analyse tourism and socio -economic dynamics considering globalisation and socio-economic structural factors. The study examines economic growth, travel, and financial success in BRICS nations. The panel data regression method is applied to highlight the relations between tourism and socio-economic indicators among BRICS and G7 countries. Temporal and territorial aspects and all regression studies were performed using the statistical modelling programme EViews 11. The study found inbound and outward connections between globalisation, dynamic socio-economic indicators, and each country's structural indicators. These tripartite aspects explained BRICS inbound and outward travel, but both are in constant change over time. Results show that the actual globalisation paradigm favours developed nations in the tourism sector, emerging BRICS nations show hopeful socio - economic structures, however they need to find new unique strategies to achieve a fair share of the new emerging world middle class tourism market. The old one is already taken by developed countries and they will fight to expand it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The article examines the issue of the digital transformation of Ukrainian businesses. Despite the existing developed sector of information technology, domestic companies have a low level of digitalization of their activity. The methodological basis of the study were general and special research methods, including methods of theoretical generalization, analysis, synthesis, comparison and others. The information base of the study was the data of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, National Bank of Ukraine, research of international organizations, scientific papers and other open sources. Purpose. The purpose of the article is the identification of trends in the digitalization of financial and economic activities of companies in Ukraine and the development of recommendations for improving the implementation of information technology. Results. The problem of poor access of domestic enterprises to the Internet has been identified. The largest share of companies that have websites was in the field of information technology (57,1% of all companies in the industry in 2021). The volume of sold products (goods, services) received from e-commerce in Ukraine is projected to increase to UAH 736,97 billion in 2023. The tendency to increase the share of enterprises that use cloud computing services (like using software for accounting and finance, file storage, database hosting) has been determined. Conclusions. The paper develops the main ways to improve the digital transformation of Ukrainian business: 1) creation of business site (very critical for industries with a high value of having a website); 2) providing all employees with access to the Internet; 3) improving the functionality of the website (following market trends); 4) assessment of the feasibility of purchasing a cloud computing service depends on business's specific; 5) providing the opportunity for payments by smartphones and other NFC devices when making contactless payments; 6) transition to sending invoices in electronic form purchased for automated processing (depending on the customer base).

Copyright of Revista Guillermo de Ockham is the property of Revista Cientifica Guillermo de Ockham, Universidad de San Buenaventura 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.)

Global economic growth prospects are facing ups and downs, the rise of interest rates to contain inflation, especially after the lingering effects of the pandemic and supply chain disruptions, recession and geopolitical tensions are obstacles for the world economy. The research question is what are the reasons for the recent global economic recession and what challenges could have on business and markets? As a methodology of research, we focused on a literature review of the existing literature and data analysis. Various economic recessions could happen from time to time and several have happened throughout history affecting the financial levels of businesses and profits. The economy bases as well on the degree of production, services, goods, consumer confidence and market trends. So, the stability of companies and countries depend a lot on these things. The results show that advanced economies raise interest rates to combat inflation, financial conditions are tightening, especially for emerging market economies. In conclusion, with cautious policy action, new strategies of negotiations and joint multilateral efforts, the world could move towards stronger and more inclusive growth. Strengthening global cooperation remains the best way to improve economic prospects. Fostering emotional intelligence in business is important. Mainly it is better to avoid? Decrease or deal with inflation rates first then with the recession since inflation is one of the main indicators and drivers to and in a recession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transport sector plays an important role in society at large. This article aimed to provide a state-of-the-art literature review in the area of sustainable transport. Data for the analysis were collected from the Web of Science database from 2000 to 2022. A total of 1238 bibliometric records of publications were collected. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were undertaken in the article. The analysis results showed five main research areas: 1—sustainable urban/public transport and mobility; 2—transport emissions and fuels; 3—sustainable supply chain/logistics management models; 4—performance and metrics in sustainable transport; and 5—future and policy. The limitations of the research carried out, which mainly concern the methodological section, should also be borne in mind. These include the selected publication base and search criteria, such as the year or language of publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological innovation and its paradigm, that is, the Fourth Industrial Revolution-4IR, have shown strong impact on income levels of adopters across the globe. To this end, this analysis examines the impact of bank funding and institutional quality on technological advancement. This study adds additional variables such as high-technology exports and foreign direct investment (FDI) as control variable. Our study period spans from 2000 to 2018 on an annual frequency for E7 economies (Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, India, Turkey, Russia, and China). This study leverages on cross-sectional ARDL, Augmented Mean Group (AMG), and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group Estimates (CCEMG) estimation techniques to examine long-run relationship between the outlined variables. Empirical findings show that institution quality, bank finance, income, high-technology exports, and foreign direct investments exert a positive effect on advancements in technology. Furthermore, the interaction between bank finance and institution quality on technological advancement is also positive and statistically significant. Based on the findings, it is concluded that large-scale funding is crucial for businesses to leverage revolutionary technology. Likewise, access to large capital sources if made easier encourages technology affordance as well as innovation and operational excellence. Thus, economies with established legal and financial systems stand to offer businesses such security, which encourages business innovation. Consequently, E7 economies ought to improve their financial and legal systems to boost financial security, creativity, and competitiveness of businesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in the concept of the optimal city size began to increase when the size of some cities reached a level that began to negatively affect their economic efficiency. Especially with the weak possibilities of urban and regional economic development. The research problem (weak balance between city size and their economic development). The research aims to study and analyze the relationship between City Size and economic development through some foundations, theories and to arrive at an explanatory model for them. The hypothesis of the research is that there is a positive relationship between the increase in the size of the city and its economic efficiency to reach the optimal size, Then the relationship is inverse, unless the intervention and direct this growth through development That is, the changes in the basic economic sectors will lead to a kind of balance between the city's economy and its population size. Through the study of the research. An Explanatory and analytical model was reached based on the concept of the Economic Pendulum and the extent of its movement towards the upper and lower limits to clarify this relationship. The city of Alexandria in the Province of Babylon as a case study. It was concluded that it passed through two stages (Contraction Stage and Economic Development stage). In the end, it was concluded that City Size is a Relative Size that changes from place to place and from time to time. Where it depends on the Economic potential of those Cities, represented by investment, or natural resources and spatial characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]