Search results

The climate change effects on agricultural output in different regions of the world and have been debated in the literature of emerging economies. Recently, the agriculture sector has influenced globally through climate change and also hurts all sectors of economies. This study aims to examine and explore the impact of global climate change on agricultural output in China over the period of 1982-2014.

Different unit root tests including augmented Dickey–Fuller, Phillips–Perron and Kwiatkowski, Phillips, Schmidt and Shin are used to check the order of integration among the study variables. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration and the Johansen cointegration test are applied to assess the association among the study variables with the evidence of long-run and short-run analysis.

Unit root test estimations confirm that all variables are stationary at the combination of I(0) and I(1). The results show that CO₂ emissions have a significant effect on agricultural output in both long-run and short-run analyses, while temperature and rainfall have a negative effect on agricultural output in the long-run. Among other determinants, the land area under cereal crops, fertilizer consumption, and energy consumption have a positive and significant association with agricultural output in both long-run and short-run analysis. The estimated coefficient of the error correction term is also highly significant.

China’s population is multiplying, and in the coming decades, the country will face food safety and security challenges. Possible initiatives are needed to configure the Chinese Government to cope with the adverse effects of climate change on agriculture and ensure adequate food for the growing population. In concise, the analysis specifies that legislators and policy experts should spot that the climate change would transmute the total output factors, accordingly a county or regional specific and crop-specific total factor of production pattern adaptation is indorsed.

The present empirical study is the first, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to investigate the impact of global climate change on agricultural output in China by using ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration and Johansen cointegration test.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of support price on wheat production in Pakistan during the period 1971–2016.

To capture the effect of support price on wheat production, the authors estimated the long-run linkage by using the ARDL bounds testing approach to cointegration.

This study confirmed the presence of a positive and long-term effect of area under cultivation, support price and fertilizer consumption on wheat production through ARDL bounds test. The results showed that both in the long run and short run, support price plays an important role in the enhancement of wheat production. The authors also found that the coefficients of the area under cultivation and fertilizer consumption variables were statistically significant and positive both in the long run and short run.

The use of the ARDL approach that examines the long-run and short-run effects of support price on wheat production in Pakistan makes the current study unique. An emerging economic literature suggests that only limited research has been conducted in this area.

In the developing countries, formal credit has dominant role for the development of agriculture sector. It increases the farmer's purchasing power for better farm inputs and agricultural technology for high crop productivity. The main purpose of this study is to examine the influence of socioeconomic characteristics of smallholder farmers for credit demand in Sindh, Pakistan.

A cross-sectional data set randomly collected from 90 smallholder farmers in Thatta district, Sindh, Pakistan, is examined. Descriptive statistics, correlation and the OLS regression method were used to demonstrate the important factors affecting the demand for formal credit.

The results revealed that formal education, experience of farming, landholding size, road access and extension contacts positively and significantly influenced the demand for formal credit.

This study is the first, to the best of authors' knowledge, to demonstrate the influence of various socioeconomic characteristics of smallholder farmers on demand for formal credit in Sindh, Pakistan. It also illustrates the imperative contribution to the literature regarding credit access and demand to improve the agricultural productivity.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of the stakeholder's relationship with supply chain resilience (SCR) and organizational performance (OP) using the lens of stakeholder theory in the manufacturing and service industry. Investigating the supply chain community in Pakistan, this paper explores the relationship between SCR, OP and the stakeholder's relationship (including customers and suppliers).

A partial least square (PLS) – structural equation modeling (SEM) technique using SmartPLS 3.3.3 was used to test the hypotheses. Data were collected through a survey (questionnaire) completed by 202 supply chain representatives. All respondents were supply chain professionals working in different organizations in Pakistan.

The findings of the study revealed that supplier relationship (SR) and customer relationship (CR) have a positive and significant impact on SCR and a positive and significant relationship between SCR and OP. A positive and significant relationship between customer relationship and OP was also noted. The mediating role of SCR is also found positive and significant.

The outcomes of the study will help managers to strengthen SCR through relationship management. The study is also helpful to increase OP through stakeholder management.

This study empirically tests an inclusive model with a PLS-SEM technique where SCR plays a mediating role in the mechanism, which is crucial since the supplier and customer (stakeholder) relationship has been never tested to gauge the OP by positioning SCR as a mediator while using the lens of stakeholder theory.

Digital technology's integration into education has transformed learning frameworks, necessitating the exploration of factors influencing students’ engagement in digital informal settings. This study, grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), proposes a model comprising artificial intelligence (AI) competence, chatbot usage, perceived autonomy (PA), digital informal learning (DIL) and students’ engagement.

The study collected survey data from 409 participants at Saudi Arabian universities, ultimately using 387 valid responses for analysis. This dataset was subjected to a thorough examination to confirm the validity of our proposed model. To decipher the complex interactions within our model, we utilized partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The study adopted a disjoint two-stage method to formulate a reflective-formative higher-order construct (HOC).

The study's findings showed that cognitive learning (CL), metacognitive learning (MCL) and social and motivational learning (SML) are the essential components of DIL. Significantly, the study determined that AI competence, chatbot usage, PA and DIL markedly affect students’ engagement. Moreover, the R² value of 0.592 for student engagement indicates the model's robustness in explaining 59.2% of the variance, highlighting its effectiveness in identifying key drivers of student engagement in DIL contexts.

This research enhances understanding by detailing the intricate relationships among AI competence, chatbot usage, and students’ engagement in informal digital learning. It extends SDT to emphasize intrinsic motivations and AI capabilities, introducing reflective-formative HOCs for comprehending educational intricacies. It provides practical strategies for enhancing AI abilities and chatbot use in education, promoting personalized, engaging and autonomous digital learning spaces, thereby advancing educational theory and practice.

Based on this holistic model, the authors propose and analyze seven key issues related to the admissibility of digital media in cross-border trials considering four Latin American countries.

The authors apply the modeling process of the soft systems methodology by Checkland in order to develop a holistic model focused on human situation problems involving digital media and information technology devices or systems.

The authors discuss the status of the identified key issues in each country and offer a perspective on the integration of cross-border work analyzing the contribution of these key issues to the collaboration between countries criminal cases or the use of foreign digital artifacts in domestic trials.

In this study, the authors assumed that the problems of official interaction between agencies of different countries are considered solved. However, for future studies or research, the authors recommend that these issues can be considered as relevant, since they are related to cross-border cooperation topics that will necessarily require unavoidable official arrangements, agreements and formalities.

This work is aimed at defining and analyzing the key issues that can contribute to the application of current techniques and methodologies in digital forensics as a tool to support the legal framework of each country, considering cross-border trials. Finally, the authors highlight the implications of this study lie in the identification and analysis of the key issues that must be considered for digital forensics as a support tool for the admissibility of digital evidence in cross-border trials.

The authors consider that digital forensic will have high demand in cross-border trials, and it will depend on the people mobility between the countries considered in this study.

This paper shows that the soft systems methodology allows elaborating a holistic model focused on social problems involving digital media and informatics devices.

ß-thalassemia is a hereditary disorder due to mutation in the ß-globin gene on chromosome 11. Out of 200 known ß-globin gene chain mutations recognized, it is better to identify the most common mutation in specific regions and ethnicity for cost-effective molecular diagnosis of this disorder. Therefore, this study aims to practice multiplex-amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) PCR on patients with thalassemia in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to investigate the most common mutations in the ß-globin chain gene.

Twenty-two individuals (patients, their parents and non-affected siblings) with signed consent were studied from six consanguineous families of ß-thalassemia. Blood samples were collected for DNA isolation. For the detection of mutations in the ß-globin gene, ARMS-PCR was used. The amplicon was visualized through 2% Agarose Gel.

The most common mutations among different ethnic groups in the study area residents were Fr 8-9 (+G) and IVS 1-5 (G> C). The prominent enhancing factors for ß-thalassemia are inter-family marriages and lack of awareness.

Multiplex ARMS_PCR is the most valuable technique for assessing multiple mutations in a single reaction tube.

Due to extensively found ethnic and regional variations and a high rate of consanguinity, the Pashtun population has a great risk of mutations in their genome. Therefore, ARMS-PCR is a cost-effective mutational diagnostic strategy that can help to control disease burden.

Limited studies using ARMS-PCR for mutational analysis in the ß-globin gene are conducted. This study is unique as it targeted consanguineous families of KP Pakistan.

This paper is an empirical investigation of the effect of knowledge, skills and entrepreneur competencies on the performance of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) operating in Upper Sindh, Pakistan.

The data were collected from owners/managers of MSMEs operating in major cities of Upper Sindh. A total of 1,100 respondents were identified through snowball and social contacts tools. A total of 316 respondents permitted researchers to visit their firms and collecting data from them by a survey questionnaire.

The findings shows that entrepreneurial skills and networking have a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial competency. Then, entrepreneurial skills, networking and entrepreneurial competency have a positive effect on enterprise performance. The findings show a significant mediation effect of entrepreneurial competency on the relationships between entrepreneurial skills and networking and enterprise performance.

This paper provides useful conclusion in understanding the entrepreneur’s characteristics and their impact on performance MSMEs, which is crucial for promoting entrepreneurial activities and for enhancing socio-economic conditions among low-income households located in Upper Sindh, Pakistan. The government must make preparation in organizing trade fairs, seminars and road shows on certain services/ products to which MSMEs’ entrepreneurs, consumers and suppliers might be invited to ease their connections.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the stock market development in Nepal.

The study used Johansen cointegration approach to determine long-run relationship and VEC Granger causality test to check the causal relations between the variables. The sample covered annual time-series data for the period 1996–2020.

The results suggest that FDI plays significant positive role in the stock market development in the long-run but inversely affect in the short-run. Unidirectional causality running from FDI to stock market development is observed in the long-run and bidirectional in the short-run. There is an insignificant positive relationship between exchange rate and FDI in the short-run. Banking sector development complements stock market development in the short-run but act as a substitute in the long-run. The statistically negative coefficient of exchange rate imply that the appreciation of the home currency encourage the development of the stock market in the long-run.

The positive and statistical coefficients of cointegration results indicate that FDI complements the development of stock market in Nepal in the long-run. Furthermore, the depreciation of the domestic currency may potentially contribute to the foreign direct investments in Nepal.

This paper examines how environmental, social and governance (ESG) intercedes the relationship between digital organizational culture and a firm’s financial performance. It sheds light on the moderating role of government policy in the relationship between digital organizational culture and financial performance.

The research employed a descriptive design, which surveyed 360 manufacturing firms from five Malaysian states. A quantitative research study used the application of structural equation modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS version 4.0 to test hypothesized relationships.

Key findings unveil a positive relationship between digital organizational culture, intellectual capital and financial performance. Results also reinforce that ESG significantly mediates the relationship between digital organizational culture and financial performance. Additionally, the government policy demonstrates a significant moderating effect on the relationship between digital organizational culture and financial performance. Hence inferring that the interchange and corresponding role of these factors can determine financial performance.

The study’s cross-sectional nature and focus on Malaysian manufacturing enterprises suggest prospects for longitudinal inquiries across diverse cultural contexts and industry sectors. Additionally, the reliance on self-reported quantitative data, while methodologically validated, signifies the potential for future mixed-method studies to seize multi-layered insights into digital culture and ESG reporting.

The outcomes contribute to insights by extending a nuanced perspective about how ESG impacts financial performance and has practical implications for SME managers and policymakers for incorporating a digital sustainability agenda. It also increases our comprehension of the substantial role of government policy in boosting digitalization leads in the manufacturing industry in emerging economies.