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While there is research that has explored how institutions have responded to various crises, these are usually locally or regionally situated. However, no event has impacted higher education globally like COVID-19 and it will certainly alter the way top administrators lead and how institutions move forward. Thus, this chapter will explore how to better understand how presidents and top administrators navigate the (inter)national geopolitics as they move the institution forward. In addition, clear and up-to-date communication has proven to be important in battling this crisis. Thus, how presidents at national universities have communicated with students, faculty, staff, and various off-campus communities members regarding COVID-19 and how they have achieved is important to explore. Our findings suggest that presidents and top administrators need to build support to help them navigate the political roadblocks they may encounter. Findings also suggest that communication is the main role they play as leaders on their campus. On/off-campus community members see the presidents as the face of the university and key communicator as relates to communicating what the institutions is doing and how they are addressing the crisis. This chapter helps in better understanding the roles presidents and top administrators play during a global crisis.

The increasing accumulation of synthetic plastic waste in oceans and landfills, along with the depletion of non-renewable fossil-based resources, has sparked environmental concerns and prompted the search for environmentally friendly alternatives. Biodegradable plastics derived from lignocellulosic materials are emerging as substitutes for synthetic plastics, offering significant potential to reduce landfill stress and minimise environmental impacts. This study highlights a sustainable and cost-effective solution by utilising agricultural residues and invasive plant materials as carbon substrates for the production of biopolymers, particularly polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), through microbiological processes. Locally sourced residual materials were preferred to reduce transportation costs and ensure accessibility. The selection of suitable residue streams was based on various criteria, including strength properties, cellulose content, low ash and lignin content, affordability, non-toxicity, biocompatibility, shelf-life, mechanical and physical properties, short maturation period, antibacterial properties and compatibility with global food security. Life cycle assessments confirm that PHB dramatically lowers CO₂ emissions compared to traditional plastics, while the growing use of lignocellulosic biomass in biopolymeric applications offers renewable and readily available resources. Governments worldwide are increasingly inclined to develop comprehensive bioeconomy policies and specialised bioplastics initiatives, driven by customer acceptability and the rising demand for environmentally friendly solutions. The implications of climate change, price volatility in fossil materials, and the imperative to reduce dependence on fossil resources further contribute to the desirability of biopolymers. The study involves fermentation, turbidity measurements, extraction and purification of PHB, and the manufacturing and testing of composite biopolymers using various physical, mechanical and chemical tests.

Introduction: India has the 15th-largest domestic natural gas consumption (NGC), critical to sustainable economic growth. Promoting natural gas will have a crucial impact on production in all industries.

Purpose: This research gives an overview of NGC and gross domestic product (GDP) in India from 1990 to 2021 and investigates the association and nature of causality between NGC and GDP in India.

Methodology: For the years 1990 through 2021, we used annual statistics from the NGC and the GDP of India. Both research variables data have been taken from the World Bank Indicator.

Findings: There is no causality and correlation between natural gas and GDP in India.

Practical Implications: Based on the research, the Government of India can create different policies for substituting natural gas for other energy sources to have a healthier impact on a sustainable environment in the short and long term. In the future, researchers can work on environmental degradation and GDP.

Key enabling technologies (KETs) are a set of six technological components that work together to address social challenges and build advanced for sustainable economies. Industry 5.0, the next industrial development, is designed to capitalize on specialists' unique creativity while also collaborating with powerful, intelligent, and precise technologies. Industry 5.0 outsourced repetitive and monotonous activities to robots/machines requiring employees to perform activities that involve critical thinking and are based on the 6R (Recognize, Reconsider, Realize, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle), to improve production quality. With numerous supporting technical advancements, advanced and quick manufacturing concentrating on the interaction of machines and humans may be produced. Maintaining healthcare and nursing care, evaluating patients' health requirements using KETs, and giving care with manpower are all major advancements in Industry 5.0 today. Future studies may focus on providing healthcare using mainly technology and, therefore, no human workers. This chapter highlights healthcare advances in Industry 5.0, where KETs and people collaborate to create and innovate. In this framework, the purpose of this chapter is to present the deployment of KETs in the nursing patient care process.

This research focuses on the Metaverse's evolving trend and the potential application of blockchain technology in the accounting of virtual assets in this digital domain. The Metaverse introduces a new economy in which users may earn real-world revenue through virtual activities, necessitating the need for efficient and dependable virtual asset accounting. Blockchain technology, with its decentralized and immutable record, appears to be a viable answer to these problems. This chapter discusses the present status of blockchain technology for accounting for virtual assets in the Metaverse as well as its potential role for businesses and the economy. It also determines the technology's issues and limits and makes recommendations for further development. The findings indicate that blockchain technology has the potential to transform virtual asset accounting in the Metaverse by improving security, transparency, and consistency. However, scalability and legal/regulatory issues must be overcome before it can completely achieve its promise. Accounting experts, developers, and stakeholders interested in the convergence of blockchain technology and the Metaverse economy will find this chapter useful.

Introduction: This chapter examines the impact of Financial Technology (Fintech) on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals to promote a sustainable financial system. Digital payment platforms, blockchain applications, and AI-powered analytics have revolutionised the financial landscape in recent years. These advancements have made integrating ESG principles into investment decisions and business practices easier.

Purpose: The main aim of this chapter is to analyse the connections and possibilities that Fintech offers to achieve ESG goals. Understanding how Fintech can facilitate sustainable finance practices is crucial for promoting investment in Fintech.

Methodology: A series of indexes have been examined, including the Global FinTech Index (GFI) in Global and Regional Rank, the Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index, and performing the Green Growth Index, the Green Economic Opportunity Index, the Global Green Finance Index (GGFI), and the Financial Inclusion Index.

Findings: Through comparative analysis, it can be concluded that the countries with the highest rankings are Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, and Germany. Sweden ranks highly in the GFI. These results show that these countries rank highly in achieving ESG objectives. Balkan countries, specifically Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, have the weakest results compared to other countries. Policymakers can benefit from the study’s findings to design better regulations and frameworks that promote responsible fintech practices and foster sustainable finance.

Practical Implications: Regulators and agencies responsible for measuring fintech and ESG should strive to align the indexes associated with these two domains as closely as possible. In addition, businesses can utilise the findings of this study to increase awareness about the diverse solutions that fintech offers to achieve the objectives of ESG.

The malfunction variables of power stations are related to the areas of weather, physical structure, control and load behaviour. To predict temporal power failure is difficult due to their unpredictable characteristics. As high accuracy is normally required, the estimation of failures of short-term temporal prediction is highly difficult. This study presents a method for converting stochastic behaviour into a stable pattern, which can subsequently be used in a short-term estimator. For this conversion, K-means clustering is employed, followed by Long-Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) algorithms are used to perform the Short-term estimation. The environment, the operation and the generated signal factors are all simulated using mathematical models. Weather parameters and load samples have been collected as part of a data set. Monte-Carlo simulation using MATLAB programming has been used to conduct experimental estimation of failures. The estimated failures of the experiment are then compared with the actual system temporal failures and found to be in good match. Therefore, for any future power grid, there is a testbed ready to estimate the future failures.

The Plan to Accept 300,000 International Students achieved its numerical target in 2019 in Japan. Although the Japanese government announced its successful attainment, there has been criticism that it increased bogus international students. This chapter aims to elucidate its outcomes and issues by examining its policy structure, key indicators, and the background causes of such criticism. The Plan was supposed to recruit excellent international students and promote their employment in Japan, pursuing an increase in highly skilled professionals, the objectives listed in the Growth Strategy of the Abe administration (2012–2020). As a result of the analysis, it was found that the efforts for internationalization of universities led to the increase in international students in English-taught degree programs (ETDP), especially at the graduate level. However, many of them found difficulty finding employment in Japan because of lack of the Japanese language proficiency required by Japanese companies. The main contributors in achieving the target of 300,000 international students were Japanese language schools. Since their student recruitment and educational activities have not been monitored enough by the government, it led to the increase of international students who were busy with part-time jobs and failed to proceed to universities, which undermined the Plan’s attainment.