Asymmetric link between environmental pollution and COVID-19 in the top ten affected states of US: A novel estimations from quantile-on-quantile approach.

This study draws the link between COVID-19 and air pollution (ground ozone O3) from February 29, 2020 to July 10, 2020 in the top 10 affected States of the US. Utilizing quantile-on-quantile (QQ) estimation technique, we examine in what manner the quantiles of COVID-19 affect the quantiles of air pollution and vice versa. The primary findings confirm overall dependence between COVID-19 and air pollution. Empirical results exhibit a strong negative effect of COVID-19 on air pollution in New York, Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania; especially at medium to higher quantiles, while New Jersey, Illinois, Arizona, and Georgia show strong negative effect mainly at lower quantiles. Contrarily, COVID-19 positively affects air pollution in Pennsylvania at extreme lower quantiles. On the other side, air pollution predominantly caused to increase in the intensity of COVID-19 cases across all states except lower quantiles of Massachusetts, and extreme higher quantiles of Arizona and New Jersey, where this effect becomes less pronounced or negative. Concludingly, a rare positive fallout of COVID-19 is reducing environmental pressure, while higher environmental pollution causes to increase the vulnerability of COVID-19 cases. These findings imply that air pollution is at the heart of chronic diseases, therefore the state government should consider these asymmetric channels and introduce appropriate policy measures to reset and control atmospheric emissions.

Sustaining the Earth: Unraveling the Synergy of Workplace Spirituality, Responsible Leadership, and Pro-Environmental Behavior in Pakistan's SMEs.

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate the synergistic impact of workplace spirituality (WPS), responsible leadership (RL), and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) within the context of Pakistan's Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) along with the mediating mechanism of Affective commitment (AC). Methods: Our study utilizes structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze survey data collected from 390 employees within Pakistani SMEs. We develop a single unified framework to test the hypothesized relationships between RL, PEB, and AC as a mediator. Results: Our results unveil significant positive relationships between WPS, RL, and PEB. Our findings endorse both the direct connections between WPS, RL, and PEB, as well as the mediating mechanisms through AC. This study offers novel insights into the influence of PEB in the context of Pakistan's SMEs. Conclusion: The research significantly contributes to the existing literature by examining WPS, RL, PEB, and AC in the context of Pakistan's SMEs. The study's conclusions emphasize the potential benefits of integrating WPS and RL into business practices to encourage PEB. Additionally, we discuss the limitations of our research and suggest future avenues for further exploration in this vital area of sustainable business management.

Hesitancy in COVID-19 vaccine uptake and its associated factors among the general adult population: a cross-sectional study in six Southeast Asian countries.

BACKGROUND: Vaccines are effective and reliable public health interventions against viral outbreaks and pandemics. However, hesitancy regarding the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine is evident worldwide. Therefore, understanding vaccination-related behavior is critical in expanding the vaccine coverage to flatten the infection curve. This study explores the public perception regarding COVID-19 vaccination and identifies factors associated with vaccine hesitancy among the general adult populations in six Southeast Asian countries. METHODS: Using a snowball sampling approach, we conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study among 5260 participants in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam between February and May 2021. Binary logistic regression analysis with a backward conditional approach was applied to identify factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. RESULTS: Of the total, 50.6% were female, and the median age was 30 years (range: 15-83 years). The majority of the participants believed that vaccination effectively prevents and controls COVID-19 (81.2%), and 84.0% would accept COVID-19 vaccines when they become available. They agreed that health providers' advice (83.0%), vaccination convenience (75.6%), and vaccine costs (62.8%) are essential for people to decide whether to accept COVID-19 vaccines. About half (49.3%) expressed their hesitancy to receive the COVID-19 vaccines. After adjustment for other covariates, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with age, residential area, education levels, employment status, and family economic status. Participants from Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam were significantly more likely to express hesitancy in receiving COVID-19 vaccines than those from Philippines. CONCLUSIONS: In general, participants in this multi-country study showed their optimistic perception of COVID-19 vaccines' effectiveness and willingness to receive them. However, about half of them still expressed their hesitancy in getting vaccinated. The hesitation was associated with several socioeconomic factors and varied by country. Therefore, COVID-19 vaccination programs should consider these factors essential for increasing vaccine uptake in the populations.

Digital health literacy for COVID-19 vaccination and intention to be immunized: A cross sectional multi-country study among the general adult population.

Introduction: It is clear that medical science has advanced much in the past few decades with the development of vaccines and this is even true for the novel coronavirus outbreak. By late 2020, COVID-19 vaccines were starting to be approved by national and global regulators, and across 2021, there was a global rollout of several vaccines. Despite rolling out vaccination programs successfully, there has been a cause of concern regarding uptake of vaccine due to vaccine hesitancy. In tackling the vaccine hesitancy and improving the overall vaccination rates, digital health literacy (DHL) could play a major role. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess the digital health literacy and its relevance to the COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: An internet-based cross-sectional survey was conducted from April to August 2021 using convenience sampling among people from different countries. Participants were asked about their level of intention to the COVID-19 vaccine. Participants completed the Digital Health Literacy Instrument (DHLI), which was adapted in the context of the COVID Health Literacy Network. Cross-tabulation and logistic regression were used for analysis purpose. Results: Overall, the mean DHL score was 35.1 (SD = 6.9, Range = 12-48). The mean DHL score for those who answered "Yes" for "support for national vaccination schedule" was 36.1 (SD 6.7) compared to 32.5 (SD 6.8) for those who either answered "No" or "Don't know". Factors including country, place of residence, education, employment, and income were associated with the intention for vaccination. Odds of vaccine intention were higher in urban respondents (OR-1.46; C.I.-1.30-1.64) than in rural respondents. Further, higher competency in assessing the relevance of online information resulted in significantly higher intention for vaccine uptake. Conclusion: Priority should be given to improving DHL and vaccination awareness programs targeting rural areas, lower education level, lower income, and unemployed groups.

Perception towards vaccine effectiveness in controlling COVID-19 spread in rural and urban communities: A global survey.

Introduction: Several studies exhibited varying reports of perception toward vaccine effectiveness, vaccine hesitancy, and acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines. As this fluctuated with evidence generation, this study explored the perception toward vaccine effectiveness in rural and urban communities among various countries. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted online from April to August 2021 using convenience sampling among people from different countries approved by the Asia Metropolitan University Medical Research and Ethics. We adapted the questionnaire from the World Health Organization's (WHO) survey tool and guidance on COVID-19. The logistic regression models were performed to show perception toward vaccine effectiveness. Results: A total of 5,673 participants responded to the online survey. Overall, 64% of participants agreed that the vaccine effectively controlled viral spread, and 23% agreed that there was no need for vaccination if others were vaccinated. Males had 14% higher odds of believing that there was no need for vaccination. Less social media users had 39% higher odds of developing the belief that there is no need for vaccination than all other people vaccinated. Conclusion: People's perceptions toward vaccine acceptance have fluctuated with the information flow in various social media and the severity of COVID-19 cases. Therefore, it is important that the current scenario of peoples' perception toward vaccine acceptance and determinants affecting the acceptance are explored to promote the vaccination approach against COVID-19 prevention and transmission effectively.

Perceived COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, acceptance, and drivers of vaccination decision-making among the general adult population: A global survey of 20 countries.

BACKGROUND: Mass vaccination campaigns have significantly reduced the COVID-19 burden. However, vaccine hesitancy has posed significant global concerns. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics that influence perceptions of COVID-19 vaccine efficacy, acceptability, hesitancy and decision making to take vaccine among general adult populations in a variety of socioeconomic and cultural contexts. METHODS: Using a snowball sampling approach, we conducted an online cross-sectional study in 20 countries across four continents from February to May 2021. RESULTS: A total of 10,477 participants were included in the analyses with a mean age of 36±14.3 years. The findings revealed the prevalence of perceptions towards COVID-19 vaccine's effectiveness (78.8%), acceptance (81.8%), hesitancy (47.2%), and drivers of vaccination decision-making (convenience [73.3%], health providers' advice [81.8%], and costs [57.0%]). The county-wise distribution included effectiveness (67.8-95.9%; 67.8% in Egypt to 95.9% in Malaysia), acceptance (64.7-96.0%; 64.7% in Australia to 96.0% in Malaysia), hesitancy (31.5-86.0%; 31.5% in Egypt to 86.0% in Vietnam), convenience (49.7-95.7%; 49.7% in Austria to 95.7% in Malaysia), advice (66.1-97.3%; 66.1% in Austria to 97.3% in Malaysia), and costs (16.0-91.3%; 16.0% in Vietnam to 91.3% in Malaysia). In multivariable regression analysis, several socio-demographic characteristics were identified as associated factors of outcome variables including, i) vaccine effectiveness: younger age, male, urban residence, higher education, and higher income; ii) acceptance: younger age, male, urban residence, higher education, married, and higher income; and iii) hesitancy: male, higher education, employed, unmarried, and lower income. Likewise, the factors associated with vaccination decision-making including i) convenience: younger age, urban residence, higher education, married, and lower income; ii) advice: younger age, urban residence, higher education, unemployed/student, married, and medium income; and iii) costs: younger age, higher education, unemployed/student, and lower income. CONCLUSIONS: Most participants believed that vaccination would effectively control and prevent COVID-19, and they would take vaccinations upon availability. Determinant factors found in this study are critical and should be considered as essential elements in developing COVID-19 vaccination campaigns to boost vaccination uptake in the populations.

A review on type-2 fuzzy neural networks for system identification.

In many engineering problems, the systems dynamics are uncertain, and then, the accurate dynamic modeling is required. Type-2 fuzzy neural networks (T2F-NNs) are extensively used in system identification problems, because of their strong estimation capability. In this paper, the application of T2F-NNs is reviewed and classified. First, an introduction to the principles of system identification, including how to extract data from a system, persistency of excitation, preprocessing of information and data, removal of outlier data, and sorting of data to learn the T2F-NNs, is presented. Then, various learning methods for structure and parameters of the T2F-NNs are reviewed and analyzed. A number of different T2F-NNs that have been used to system identification are reviewed, and their disadvantages and advantages are described. Also, their efficiency in different applications is reviewed. Finally, we will look at the horizon ahead in this issue and analyze its challenges.

The role of natural resources, globalization, and renewable energy in testing the EKC hypothesis in MINT countries: new evidence from Method of Moments Quantile Regression approach.

We employ the new Method of Moments Quantile Regression approach to expose the role of natural resources, renewable energy, and globalization in testing Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) in MINT panel covering the years 1995-2018. The outcome validates the EKC curve between economic progress and carbon emissions from the third quantile to the extreme highest quantile. The result also shows that natural resources increase CO2 emissions at the lowest quantile and then turn insignificant from the middle to the highest quantiles due to the potential utilization of resources in a sustainable manner. The renewable energy mitigates CO2 emissions at the lower half quantiles. Still, for upper quantiles, the results are unexpected and imply that the countries' total energy mix depends heavily on fossil fuels. As far as globalization is concerned, the significant results from medium to upper quantiles reveal that as globalization heightens due to foreign direct investment or trade, energy consumption also expands, leading to the worst environment quality. Thus, the present study's consequences deliver guidelines for policymakers to utilize natural resources sustainably and opt technologies based on clean energy, which may offset environmental degeneration.

The dynamics effect of green technology innovation on economic growth and CO2 emission in Singapore: new evidence from bootstrap ARDL approach.

For an economy to excel in growth, there is usually a trade-off between financial development and environment deterioration. For a country like Singapore, which has shown a radical growth and is known for its population density, it is important to explore the role of green technology innovation in the pursuit of economic excellence with the least possible cost to the environment. By employing the novel bootstrap autoregressive-distributed lag (BARDL) technique using a time series data from 1990 to 2018, the results reported a positive and significant relationship of green technology innovation with economic growth and negative and significant relationship with carbon emissions in both long run and short run. Based on the findings, several managerial implications were discussed, whereas based on the limitations, directions for future researchers are also given.

The step towards environmental mitigation in Pakistan: do transportation services, urbanization, and financial development matter?

This study is a scholarly effort to broaden the existing literature on the impact of transportation services, urbanization, and financial development on ecological footprints in Pakistan. Data used in this study covers the period of 39 years from 1980 to 2018. This study adopted the QARDL model to tackle the non-linear association of variables and test their long-run stability across the different quantiles. The findings of this study indicated a significant negative association of transportation services and financial development with ecological footprints in Pakistan at almost all quantiles whereas, the urban population was found to be positively associated with the ecological footprint in Pakistan. Results also justify the existence of the EKC hypothesis in the scenario of Pakistan. Policymakers are advised to frame strategies for investors to invest more in eco-friendly projects to curtail the ecological footprints in Pakistan. Minimizing the dependency of the transportation sector on fossil fuel, and increased use of energy-efficient appliances in the urban population would be beneficial to control the negative influence on ecological footprints in Pakistan.

The asymmetric effect of tourism, financial development, and globalization on ecological footprint in Turkey.

With the growing interest among researchers in analyzing the ecological footprint of any country, this study focuses on new dimensions to analyze the long-run and short-run asymmetric impact of tourism, financial development, and globalization on ecological footprint in Turkey by using Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lag model for the period from 1986 to 2018. Further, the EKC hypothesis was also tested. The results show that tourism, globalization, and financial development are positively and significantly associated with the EFP. This means that the increase in these variables will further increase the ecological footprint in Turkey. The U-shaped EKC curve was found to be valid in Turkey. The results also depict nonlinear and asymmetric association among most of the variables. Hence, based on the results, further research directions and practical implications can be suggested.

The dynamic nonlinear influence of ICT, financial development, and institutional quality on CO2 emission in Pakistan: new insights from QARDL approach.

This novel research is an argumentative subject which was needed to be addressed and to fill this gap, the author examined the effect of financial development, information and communication technology, and institutional quality on CO2 emission in Pakistan by using quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) model. The data were obtained for the period from 1995Q1 to 2018Q4. In the long run, GDP and institutional quality have a positive impact on CO2 emission when this emission is already high, which shows that if the GDP and institutional quality increases, the CO2 emission also increases. Moreover, financial development and ICT has a negative impact on CO2 emission irrespective of emission level that whether it is high or low in the country, which shows that if financial enhancement and ICT increases, carbon emission decreases. The study also supported the EKC hypothesis in Pakistan.

The role of tourism and renewable energy in testing the environmental Kuznets curve in the BRICS countries: fresh evidence from methods of moments quantile regression.

BRICS are among the rising nations which drive economic growth by excessive utilization of resources and resulting in environment degradation. Although there is bulk of research on environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), very limited studies explored the scope in context of tourism in BRICS countries. So this research is conducted to explore the association of tourism, renewable energy, and economic growth with carbon emissions by using annual data of BRICS countries from the year 1995 to 2018. By using the recent approach of method of moments quantile regression (MMQR), the finding shows that tourism has stronger significant negative effects from 10th to 40th quantile while the effects are insignificant at remaining quantiles. Furthermore, an inverted U-shape EKC curve is also apparent at all quantiles excluding 10th and 20th quantiles. For renewable energy, the results are found negatively significant across all quantiles (10th-90th) which claim that CO2 emission can be reduced by opting renewable sources. Hence, the empirical results of the current study provide insights for policymakers to consume renewable energy sources for the sustainable economic growth and solution of environmental problems.

Human development index in a context of human development: Review on the western Balkans countries.

INTRODUCTION: The Human Development Index (HDI), as one of the more complex composite indicators of the level of human potential and quality of life, is a combination of three dimensions (indicators, factors): life expectancy at birth, the middle number of years of education and the expected number of years of schooling combined into a single education index and economic benefits expressed by production, or GDP (gross domestic product) according to purchasing power (PPP US $). METHODS: The same measures and average achievements in the field of health, education, and living standards are presented. The HDI was first developed in 1990 under the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and is published as Human Development Reports (HDR). At present, it has become the most widely used complex indicator suitable for international comparisons and assessments of the achieved development level of a particular country or region. RESULTS: The paper deals specifically with the more perspective view of human development in the Western Balkans, with a series of socio-economic implications for the development policy of the countries under observation. CONCLUSION: The particular significance of the conducted research stems from the fact that in the countries of the Western Balkans are identified factors at the beginning of the transition period were often marginalized in the creation of macroeconomic policies, but in recent years there have been more positive developments in that regard.

Do Social Factors Contribute to International Sports Performance: A Panel Data Analysis of Countries' Performance in the Asian Games / ¿Contribuyen los factores sociales al rendimiento deportivo internacional? Un análisis de datos de panel del rendimiento de los países en los Juegos Asiáticos

Asia has become a leader in international sports championships, which justifies a greater emphasis on the region's sporting achievements. However, different economic, political, and social elements influence the region's performance since deteriorating social or economic systems can harm performance. This study examined the impact of social factors on the international athletic performance of Asian nations. To do so, we analyzed the effect of health expenditure, education expenditure, and development on sports performance from 1961 to 2018 while adjusting for gross domestic product and population growth. The data was evaluated using VAR, and the study's conclusions demonstrated a considerable correlation between social growth and national sporting performance. The paper includes recommendations for further research and consequences for the government and policymakers.(AU)

Does Political Governance Influence the Sports Performance of Asia? / ¿La gobernanza política influye en el rendimiento deportivo de Asia?

National sports are highly valued throughout Asia, yet, political and administrative concerns impede the expansion of the sport system landscape. This study aims to investigate the effect of political governance structure on Asian sporting performance. To accomplish so, we analyzed the relationship between corruption control, government effectiveness, political stability, regulatory law, and national sports performance from 1998 to 2018 while controlling for the rule of law and accountability. The Generalized Linear Model and Partial Least Square estimators were utilized to examine the data. No significant association was observed between political and governance structure and national sports performance in the Asian countries under examination, according to the study's findings. The paper includes recommendations for further research and consequences for the government and policymakers.(AU)

Investigating the Association Between Economic Conditions and Sports Performance in Asia: A Panel Data Approach / Investigación de la asociación entre las condiciones económicas y el rendimiento deportivo en Asia: un enfoque de datos de panel

Knowing the factors that influence a nation's sporting performance can aid in formulating appropriate policies and plans. This study examines the relationship between gross domestic product, population, total debt, inflation, and trade as a proportion of GDP for eleven Asian nations from 1998 to 2018. Panel unit root tests, cointegration tests, and finally, Fully Modified Ordinary Least Square (FMLOS) were used to examine the relationships between the variables. The panel results revealed that GDP and TRD favorably and significantly impact national sports performance, whereas POP and TD have a negative impact. INF was discovered to have a negligible effect on national athletic performance. Hence, we suggest that Asian nations take appropriate measures to boost national sporting achievements.(AU)

Do Social Factors Contribute to International Sports Performance: A Panel Data Analysis of Countries' Performance in the Asian Games / ¿Contribuyen los factores sociales al rendimiento deportivo internacional? Un análisis de datos de panel del rendimiento de los países en los Juegos Asiáticos

Asia has become a leader in international sports championships, which justifies a greater emphasis on the region's sporting achievements. However, different economic, political, and social elements influence the region's performance since deteriorating social or economic systems can harm performance. This study examined the impact of social factors on the international athletic performance of Asian nations. To do so, we analyzed the effect of health expenditure, education expenditure, and development on sports performance from 1961 to 2018 while adjusting for gross domestic product and population growth. The data was evaluated using VAR, and the study's conclusions demonstrated a considerable correlation between social growth and national sporting performance. The paper includes recommendations for further research and consequences for the government and policymakers.(AU)

Moderating Effect of Ethical Climate between the Relationship of Coach Ethical Leadership and Affective Commitment: An Evidence from Thailand Nonprofessional Soccer Player / Efecto moderador del clima ético entre la relación del liderazgo ético del entrenador y el compromiso afectivo: una evidencia de un jugador de fútbol no profesional de Tailandia

A multitude of ethical dilemmas perpetually besets non-professional soccer. It is believed that coaches can be beneficial in preventing unethical behavior. Therefore, this study examines the moderating effect of perceived ethical climate on the relationship between coach ethical leadership and the affective commitment of non-professional soccer players. A convenient sampling technique was utilized to collect data from 300 amateur Thai soccer players for this purpose. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) demonstrated that the direct effect of player-perceived coach ethical leadership and player-perceived ethical climate has a significant and positive relationship with affective commitment. The indirect impact of the critical findings indicates that players' perceptions of the ethical environment moderate the relationship between their perceptions of the ethical leadership of their coaches and their affective commitment. These findings suggest that ethical climate is integral because it significantly mediates exogenous and endogenous variables. Therefore, this moderating effect relationship is a significant contribution to the study. This study could assist athletes and clubs in understanding the significance of coaching ethical leadership and ethical climate in enhancing the affective commitment of non-professional athletes.(AU)