Search results

This research aims to investigate the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and the performance of real estate companies before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. By conducting a comprehensive case study analysis, we will explore how real estate companies' adoption of ESG practices has influenced their financial performance, market value and resilience during these uncertain times. The findings of this study will contribute to the existing body of knowledge on the relationship between ESG factors and company performance, specifically within the real estate sector. Moreover, the research outcomes will offer practical implications for real estate companies, investors, policymakers and other stakeholders, aiding them in making informed decisions regarding ESG integration and its potential benefits in uncertain times. Overall, this research aims to shed light on whether ESG factors truly enhance the performance of real estate companies, considering the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and sanctions. By examining the case study before and during uncertain times including COVID-19 pandemic and sanctions, we provide valuable insights into the role of ESG practices in shaping the future of the real estate industry.

The study focuses on the selection process and main model used to investigate the relationship between ESG factors and firm performance. The data is divided into four groups based on ESG quartiles to analyze differences between firms with high and low ESG scores. The Difference-in-Differences (DID) model is employed to assess anomalous returns and stock volatility across different ESG quartiles before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Panel data models are utilized to study the association between ESG and firm performance, with random effects and fixed effects estimators considered. The study builds a model to analyze the impact of ESG on financial performance indicators, incorporating various factors and control variables. Additionally, the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET) analysis and DID model are explored to evaluate the causal impact of ESG on firm performance. The study emphasizes the importance of testing for parallel trends to ensure the validity of the ATET analysis and it presents a generalized DID model to examine the relationship between ESG scores and company performance outcomes.

Our study's main conclusions show that, in a world with some degree of stability, ESG not only does not improve but, in some situations, also hurts firms' success. On the other hand, at times of notable worldwide unrest, like the COVID-19 pandemic, firms with better ESG ratings demonstrate exceptional stock market success and a noteworthy ability to rebound from a crisis. Moreover, we note that investors truly prioritize sustainable investments as a risk mitigation strategy in addition to their environmental and social duties only when companies face sufficiently significant risks. The results will highlight the significance of sustainable and responsible investment for investors and provide management with more knowledge to create effective ESG strategies for their companies.

By incorporating sustainability and responsibility into their operations, businesses may reduce risk, perform better over the long run and benefit society and the environment. As investors come to understand the importance of ESG issues in their decision-making, the global landscape is experiencing a transformation. Therefore, in the era when stakeholders, such as consumers, workers and shareholders, want more responsibility and transparency when it comes to ESG practises, it is crucial that companies should devote their priority to their ESG performance in order to reduce the danger of slipping behind, especially in light of the increasing importance of sustainability issues and changing laws. However, in the case of small-sized firms, investment policies to improve companies’ governance need to be controlled in moderation during the period of stability because it will create financial pressure and leave them without enough resources to cope with negative impacts during uncertain period. In sum, sustainable and ethical investment is not only a fad; rather, it is a vital and unavoidable route for companies looking to prosper in an unpredictable and complicated global environment.

This research study significantly enhances the existing academic discourse surrounding the relationship between ESG factors and firm performance, particularly, in periods of uncertainty. The findings underscore the critical importance for real estate companies to place a greater emphasis on ESG practices in order to not only benefit themselves but also to improve their overall performance and sustainability in the long term. By shedding light on the positive outcomes associated with prioritizing ESG considerations, this study offers valuable insights for real estate firms seeking to enhance their competitive advantage and stakeholder value in today's dynamic business landscape.

Cloud accounting has emerged as a compelling area of research, experiencing significant growth in recent years. Therefore, this paper seeks to analyze the dispersed academic literature on cloud accounting research. Through this review, this study aims to gain insights into various aspects including research methodologies, frameworks, geographical dispersion, trends, pivotal factors and causal relationships pertinent to cloud accounting.

To offer a comprehensive and objective overview of cloud accounting research, this study adopts a systematic literature review approach. Seventy-five papers published between 2013 and 2023 were selected from the Scopus database, Springer Link, Emerald Insight and IEEE Xplore, following specific criteria outlined in the PRISMA process.

Analysis reveals that cloud accounting research is organized into four primary themes: understanding the benefits and challenges of cloud accounting; identifying factors influencing cloud accounting adoption; exploring factors influenced by cloud accounting implementation; and examining the mediating role of cloud accounting. Besides, the analysis indicates a notable surge in cloud accounting research from 2021 to 2023, with 40 articles published during this period, signaling a growing interest in the topic. Previous studies primarily concentrated on developing countries, with Jordan, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Nigeria emerging as focal points. The organizational level was predominantly explored, particularly in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises, indicating a trend toward organizational-level analysis. Notably, a significant portion of cloud accounting studies were not published in prestigious journals indexed under Scopus.

This study provides insights into the publication status of cloud accounting by year, journal and country. Methodological, theoretical and unit of analysis information is also presented. Finally, the study outlines limitations and suggests future research directions.

This paper aims to investigate the conditional equicorrelation and cross-quantile dependence between the DeFi, European and GCC currency markets (Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).

This study applies the GARCH-DECO model and cross-quantilogram framework.

The findings reveal evidence of weak and negative average equicorrelations between the examined markets through time, excluding the COVID-19 outbreak and Russia–Ukraine conflict, which is consistent with the literature examining relationships in different markets. From the cross-quantilogram model, the authors note that the dependence between DeFi, EURO and GCC foreign exchange rate markets is greatest in the short run and diminishes over the medium- and long-term horizons, indicating rapid information processing between the markets under consideration, as most innovations are transmitted in the short term.

For the pairs of DeFi and currency markets, the static and dynamic optimal weights and hedging ratios are also estimated, providing new empirical data for portfolio managers and investors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the most important research looking into the conditional correlation and predictability between the DeFi, EURO and GCC foreign exchange markets. More importantly, this study provides the first empirical proof of the safe-haven, hedging and diversification qualities of DeFi, EURO and GCC currencies, and this work also covers the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia–Ukraine war with the use of a single dynamic measure produced by the GARCH-DECO model. In addition, the directional predictability between variables under consideration using the cross-quantilogram model is examined, which can be capable of capturing the asymmetry in the quantile dependent structure. The findings are helpful for both policymakers and investors in improving their trading selections and strategies for risk management in different market conditions.

Humanoid robots have been utilized in many fields such as medical, construction, and disaster response. While humanoid robots nowadays can achieve great capabilities, the one-leg balancing task still poses a challenging problem. This paper aims to propose a novel approach to solve the problem.

To aid the balance of one leg in humanoid robot, an external balance mechanism is inserted to the back of the humanoid robot. First, a dynamic model of the humanoid robot with balance mechanism and its simplified model are introduced. Second, a backstepping-based control method is utilized to build the proposed controller for one-leg stance system through two steps. For the first step, a minimum observer-based controller with a virtual control input is used to control the first sub-system reaching the desired reference input. For the second step, a virtual control input is considered as a reference input of a second sub-system, then a model reference adaptive controller (MRAC) is employed to control the second sub-system reaching the virtual control input in presence of uncertainties. By using the external balance mechanism, the sideway balancing task is separated from normal walking function. Furthermore, the utilization of the balance mechanism ensures the humanoid robot's hip adduction does not exceed the threshold of a human when walking. Finally, a simulation study is carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

This paper proposes a model reference adaptive control using state observer for balancing one leg of humanoid robot in stance phase that extends our previous research (Tran et al., 2021).

The main research contents have been introduced.

“The world needs science, science needs women” is the message given by UNESCO in the program for the development of women in science” (UNESCO, 2017). In Vietnam, women’s participation and achievements in scientific research is considered a great and important resource for industrialization and modernization. Even so, are there gender differences in scientific achievement in the social science research institutes in Vietnam? What factors influence the scientific achievement of female social researchers? The answers will be based on data from a 2017 survey with a sample of 756 researchers, of which 77.6% were female. The survey was conducted by the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, a leading, ministry-level national center for the social sciences in Vietnam. This chapter analyzed the scientific achievements of researchers through their position as principal investigators of research projects and their publications, and factors that may impact this. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of factors that may affect the scientific achievement of researchers found that gender differences in academic achievement in the social sciences in Vietnam was still prevalent. Female researchers’ scientific achievements were lower than those of their male counterparts. The contribution to science of Vietnamese female researchers was limited by many different factors; the most important were the academic rank of the researchers and gender stereotype that considered housework the responsibility of women.

With the advancement of technology, microlearning has emerged as a promising method to improve the efficacy of teaching and learning. This study aims to investigate the document types, volume, growth trajectory, geographic contribution, coauthor relationships, prominent authors, research groups, influential documents and publication outlets in the microlearning literature.

We adapt the PRISMA guidelines to assess the eligibility of 297 Scopus-indexed documents from 2002 to 2021. Each was manually labeled by educational level. Descriptive statistics and science mapping were conducted to highlight relevant objects and their patterns in the knowledge base.

This study confirms the increasing trend of microlearning publications over the last two decades, with conference papers dominating the microlearning literature (178 documents, 59.86%). Despite global contributions, a concentrated effort from scholars in 15 countries (22.39%) yielded 68.8% of all documents, while the remaining papers were dispersed across 52 other nations (77.61%). Another significant finding is that most documents pertain to three educational level categories: lifelong learning, higher education and all educational levels. In addition, this research highlights six key themes in the microlearning domain, encompassing (1) Design and evaluation of mobile learning, (2) Microlearning adaptation in MOOCs, (3) Language teaching and learning, (4) Workflow of a microlearning system, (5) Microlearning content design, (6) Health competence and health behaviors. Other aspects analyzed in this study include the most prominent authors, research groups, documents and references.

The finding represents all topics at various educational levels to offer a comprehensive view of the knowledge base.

Generally, humanoid robots usually suffer significant impact force when walking or running in a non-predefined environment that could easily damage the actuators due to high stiffness. In recent years, the utilization of passive compliant series elastic actuators (SEA) for driving humanoid's joints has proved the capability in many aspects so far. However, despite being widely applied in the biped robot research field, the stable control problem for a humanoid powered by the SEAs, especially in the walking process, is still a challenge. This paper proposes a model reference adaptive control (MRAC) combined with the back-stepping algorithm to deal with the parameter uncertainties in a humanoid's lower limb driven by the SEA system. This is an extension of our previous research (Lanh et al., 2021).

Firstly, a dynamic model of SEA is obtained. Secondly, since there are unknown and uncertain parameters in the SEA model, a Model Reference Adaptive Controller (MRAC) is employed to guarantee the robust performance of the humanoid's lower limb. Finally, an experiment is carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed controller and the SEA mechanism.

This paper proposes an effective control algorithm that can be widely applied for the humanoid-SEA system. Besides, the effect of the coefficients in the control law is analyzed to further improve the response's quality.

Even though the simulation shows good results with stable system response, the practical experiment has not been implemented to fully evaluate the quality of the controller.

The MRAC is applied to control the humanoid's lower limb and the back-stepping process is utilized to combine with an external SEA system but still maintain stabilization. The simplified model of the lower-limb system proposed in the paper is proven to be appropriate and can be taken for further research in the future.

In the COVID-19 outbreak periods, people's life has been deranged, leading to disrupt the world. Firstly, the number of deaths is growing and has the potential to surpass the highest level at any time. Secondly, the pandemic broke many countries' fortified lines of epidemic prevention and gave people a more honest view of its seriousness. Finally, the pandemic has an impact on life, and the economy led to a shortage in medical, including a lack of clinicians, facilities and medical equipment. One of those, a simple ventilator is a necessary piece of medical equipment since it might be useful for a COVID-19 patient's treatment. In some cases, the COVID-19 patients require to be treated by modern ventilators to reduce lung damage. Therefore, the addition of simple ventilators is a necessity to relieve high work pressure on medical bureaucracies. Some low-income countries aim to build a simple ventilator for primary care and palliative care using locally accessible and low-cost components. One of the simple principles for producing airflow is to squeeze an artificial manual breathing unit (AMBU) iterative with grippers, which imitates the motion of human fingers. Unfortunately, the squeezing angle of grippers is not proportional to the exhaust air volume from the AMBU bag. This paper aims to model the AMBU bag by a mathematical equation that enables to implement on a simple controller to operate a bag-valve-mask (BVM) ventilator with high accuracy performance.

This paper provides a curvature function to estimate the air volume exhausting from the AMBU bag. Since the determination of the curvature function is sophisticated, the coefficients of the curvature function are approximated by a quadratic function through the experimental identification method. To obtain the high accuracy performance, a linear regression model and a least square method are employed to investigate the characteristic of the BVM ventilator's grippers angle with respect to the airflow volume produced by the AMBU bag.

This paper investigates the correlation between the exhausting airflow of the AMBU bag and the grippers angle of the BVM ventilator.

The experimental results validated that the regression model of the characteristic of the exhausting airflow of the AMBU bag with respect to the grippers' angle has been fitted with a coefficient over 98% within the range of 350–750 ml.

The paper aimed to examine the determinants of agricultural commercialisation of farmers and measured its commercialisation level in the highland of Vietnam.

A sample size of 360 was randomly chosen from a total population of 5,771 farmers, and a structured questionnaire was developed to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including linear regression analysis, were used to analyse the data.

The descriptive statistics showed that the average commercialisation level of farmers was 56.3%. The regression model result indicated that number of off-farm income sources, farmer's risk perception, farming practices, number of agricultural activities, motorbikes value, ethnicity, distance from the city centre, number of customers, non-traded inputs value, participation in training programmes, family size, farm size, mobile phones value, traded inputs value, land tenure, distance from the local market and education of household head significantly affected agricultural commercialisation of farmers.

Any development strategies that assist farmers in adopting commercial farming in the highland of developing countries should consider these determinants.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-03-2022-0161

This study aims to investigate the determinants of public trust in e-government services (Te-GS) and participation in social media.

A quantitative cross-sectional field survey was used to collect primary data at the local government level in 11 cities, towns and districts in Tien Giang Province, Vietnam. The final data set of 529 respondents was analysed using SmartPLS4 to evaluate the measurement and structural models.

Perceived responsiveness, transparency and security have strong positive associations with Te-GS, whereas perceived accountability does not. Furthermore, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are positively associated with social media participation.

Although previous studies have examined citizen behaviour in the use of e-government services, the social media context has rarely been considered due to its novelty. This study adds to the knowledge of the antecedents of participation in e-government services in developing countries such as Vietnam. Furthermore, it provides a comprehensive framework for understanding participation intention that considers four elements of good governance theory and two elements of the technology acceptance model (TAM), thereby extending previous research on the effects of these variables on the adoption of e-government services.