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This study aims to analyze the emergence of a new structural configuration of globalization, with the 2008 global financial crisis serving as the first symptom of this change. By introducing the “Evolutionary Structural Triptych” (EST), this research seeks to understand the basic components of the new evolutionary trajectory of global capitalism post-2008. The study places emphasis on its interdependent and coevolving economic, political and technological dynamic facets.

This research introduces the EST framework, critically contrasting it with conventional understandings in international political economy (IPE) to provide a comprehensive and structured analysis of global developments after 2008. It traces the phases of global capitalism since Second World War, examines the central dynamic dimensions during each evolutionary phase, identifies the basic patterns and delves into the foundational elements of the emerging era of globalization.

The analysis reveals three key findings. First, the emerging restructured globalization indicates a need for a new balance in the contemporary world system; however, this balance cannot be achieved within the architecture of the old system. Second, the new era of globalization necessitates a re-equilibrated approach across different dimensions of geopolitical stability, economic development and innovation. This approach should emphasize sustainability, adaptability, resilience and inclusivity and lean toward responsible, open and organic innovation models for a revamped global structure. Third, while many current IPE theories tend to compartmentalize aspects of the new globalization, the EST advocates for a holistic perspective that integrates politics, economics and technology within the framework of global trends. This perspective bridges existing gaps and offers actionable insights for a dynamic and inclusive global future.

The paper presents the EST as a novel analytical instrument in the realm of the modern IPE. This tool uniquely places technology and innovation at the forefront, parallel to economic and political spheres, to comprehend the progression of globalization. In doing so, it highlights the intertwined relationship of these structural dimensions in shaping the future of the subject of the IPE.

Clean energy is the most demanding issue for sustainable development, especially in post-COVID-19 scenario. The Government of India (GOI) has adopted various reform policies in the energy sector focusing on Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7). India has taken initiative on SDG 7 to ensure access to sustainable energy for all. The core interest area of this paper is to analyse recent energy reform policies in energy sectors covering power generation, transmission, distribution and consumption and discusses mechanism SDG target achievement within 2030 in India. In the COVID-19 pandemic scenario, every country faces a major issue of energy security since the undisrupted energy security is related to energy demand. In the time period of pandemic, industrial energy demand goes down rapidly all over the world, especially in India. Though in the eve of festive season in India the difference between the energy supply and demand slightly overcomes. In the year 2003, GOI through Electricity Act opened electricity market for private participation to increase efficiencies. In the COVID-19 pandemic scenario, every country faces a major issue of energy security since the undisrupted energy security is related to energy demand. Further, the Ministry of Power has taken several policies such as National Electrification Policy in 2005, National Tariff Policy, Rural Electrification Policy in 2009 and Integrated Energy Policy. This policy brief paper highlights the progress of clean energy in India and provides their future trajectory towards achieving SDG targets, especially in the period of COVID-19 pandemic.

The incidence of the COVID-19 pandemic has come as a big blow to every dimension of any economy. It disrupts the usual constructs and functioning of economies across the globe. Different macroeconomic variables such as income, employment, etc. have been in shambles because of the unprecedented pandemic. Such a situation needs an alternative thought to turn around everything, and circular economic approach indeed is a potent tool to weather this tumultuous situation. Circular economic framework facilitates recycling and reusing of wastes discarded. Because of various activities, wastes are generated, and if products could be generated out of wastes through a system, it would be beneficial to economies as this ensures the judicious utilisation of resources. Recycling, refurbishing and reducing are three important pillars of the circular economic framework, where product lifecycle gets extended and prudent use of existing resources can be possible. The usage of resources even out of wastes stands out to be a game changer in terms of sustainability of environment. The alternative usage of resources in this way creates alternative employment opportunities. The extension of product lifecycle through recycling and reusing creates alternative rooms for employment, giving ample opportunities for sustainable development. It leads to market creation for waste products. Such a circular economy approach, paving the way for alternative employment generation, leads to sustainable development. The present work tries to re-examine the efficacy of the circular economic framework and its resilience in the context of the unprecedented pandemic in terms of providing alternative employment opportunities. It attempts to underscore how circular economic construct positively impacts prudent use of resources through alternative employment generation in pandemic.

This study examines the impact of university science parks’ (USPs) capabilities on revenue generation and introduces regional innovation as a moderating variable. This study aims to provide insights into enhancing revenue generation and fully leveraging the role of USPs in promoting revenue generation.

This study employs system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation for 116 universities in China from 2008 to 2020, using hierarchical regression analysis to examine the relationships between variables.

The findings suggest that USPs play a beneficial role in fostering revenue generation. Specifically, the provision of incubation funding demonstrates a positive correlation, while USPs size exhibits an inverted U-shaped pattern, with a threshold at 3.037 and a mean value of 3.712, highlighting the prevalent issue of suboptimal personnel allocation in the majority of USPs. Moreover, the analysis underscores the critical moderating influence of regional innovation, affecting the intricate interplay between USPs size, incubation funding and revenue generation.

The single country (China) analysis relied solely on the use of secondary data. Future studies could expand the scope to include other countries and employ primary data collection. For instance, future research can further examine how regional development and USPs strategic plan impact revenue generation.

The study recommends that USPs managers and policymakers recognize the importance of incubation funding and determine the optimal quantity of USPs size to effectively foster revenue generation in USPs. Policymakers can use regional innovation as a moderating variable to reinforce the relationship between USPs size and incubation funding on revenue generation.

The study’s findings can contribute to the strategic industry growth and economic development of nations by promoting revenue generation. Leveraging the role of USPs and implementing the study’s recommendations can strengthen innovation and technology capabilities, driving strategic industry growth and economic development. This can enhance global competitiveness and promote sustainable economic growth.

This study introduces regional innovation as a moderating variable and provides empirical evidence of its influence on the relationship between USPs size and incubation funding on revenue generation. This adds value to research to the existing literature on USPs and revenue generation by showcasing the importance of examining the regional impact in research and innovation.

This study aims to minimize the transportation-related cost in distribution while utilizing a heterogeneous fixed fleet to deliver distinct demand at different geographical locations with a proper workload balancing approach. An increased cost in distribution is a major problem for many companies due to the absence of efficient planning methods to overcome operational challenges in distinct distribution networks. The problem addressed in this study is to minimize the transportation-related cost in distribution while using a heterogeneous fixed fleet to deliver distinct demand at different geographical locations with a proper workload balancing approach which has not gained the adequate attention in the literature.

This study formulated the transportation problem as a vehicle routing problem with a heterogeneous fixed fleet and workload balancing, which is a combinatorial optimization problem of the NP-hard category. The model was solved using both the simulated annealing and a genetic algorithm (GA) adopting distinct local search operators. A greedy approach has been used in generating an initial solution for both algorithms. The paired t-test has been used in selecting the best algorithm. Through a number of scenarios, the baseline conditions of the problem were further tested investigating the alternative fleet compositions of the heterogeneous fleet. Results were analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Hsu’s MCB methods to identify the best scenario.

The solutions generated by both algorithms were subjected to the t-test, and the results revealed that the GA outperformed in solution quality in planning a heterogeneous fleet for distribution with load balancing. Through a number of scenarios, the baseline conditions of the problem were further tested investigating the alternative fleet utilization with different compositions of the heterogeneous fleet. Results were analyzed using ANOVA and Hsu’s MCB method and found that removing the lowest capacities trucks enhances the average vehicle utilization with reduced travel distance.

The developed model has considered both planning of heterogeneous fleet and the requirement of work load balancing which are very common industry needs, however, have not been addressed adequately either individually or collectively in the literature. The adopted solution methodologies to solve the NP-hard distribution problem consist of metaheuristics, statistical analysis and scenario analysis are another significant contribution. The planning of distribution operations not only addresses operational-level decision, through a scenario analysis, but also strategic-level decision has also been considered.

The planning of distribution operations not only addresses operational-level decisions, but also strategic-level decisions conducting a scenario analysis.

First-generation college students in the United States are a unique demographic that is often characterized by the institutions that serve them with a risk-laden and deficit-based model. However, our analysis of the transcripts of open-ended, semi-structured interviews with 22 “first-gen” respondents suggests they are actively deft, agentic, self-determining parties to processes of identity construction that are both externally imposed and potentially stigmatizing, as well as exemplars of survivance and determination. We deploy a grounded theory approach to an open-coding process, modeled after the extended case method, while viewing our data through a novel synthesis of the dual theoretical lenses of structural and radical/structural symbolic interactionism and intersectional/standpoint feminist traditions, in order to reveal the complex, unfolding, active strategies students used to make sense of their obstacles, successes, co-created identities, and distinctive institutional encounters. We find that contrary to the dictates of prevailing paradigms, identity-building among first-gens is an incremental and bidirectional process through which students actively perceive and engage existing power structures to persist and even thrive amid incredibly trying, challenging, distressing, and even traumatic circumstances. Our findings suggest that successful institutional interventional strategies designed to serve this functionally unique student population (and particularly those tailored to the COVID-moment) would do well to listen deeply to their voices, consider the secondary consequences of “protectionary” policies as potentially more harmful than helpful, and fundamentally, to reexamine the presumption that such students present just institutional risk and vulnerability, but also present a valuable addition to university environments, due to the unique perspective and broader scale of vision their experiences afford them.

This study aims to look at challenges that hinder small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from using open data (OD). The research gaps identified are then used to propose a next generation of OD platform (ODP+).

This study proposes a more effective platform for SMEs called ODP+. A proof of concept was implemented by using modern techniques and technologies, with a pilot conducted among selected SMEs and government employees to test the approach’s viability.

The findings identify current OD platforms generally, and in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, they encounter several difficulties, including that the data sets are complex to understand and determine their potential for reuse. The application of big data analytics in mitigating the identified challenges is demonstrated through the artefacts that have been developed.

This paper discusses several challenges that must be addressed to ensure that OD is accessible, helpful and of high quality in the future when planning and implementing OD initiatives.

The proposed ODP+ integrates social network data, SME data sets and government databases. It will give SMEs a platform for combining data from government agencies, third parties and social networks to carry out complex analytical scenarios or build the needed application using artificial intelligence.

The findings promote the potential future utilisation of OD and suggest ways to give users access to knowledge and features.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study provides extensive research about OD in Qatar or GCC. Further, the proposed ODP+ is a new platform that allows SMEs to run natural language data analytics queries.

The global economy is facing a steep challenge from volatility, risk and uncertainty associated with climate change, pandemics, regional conflicts and trade wars which are unprecedented and overlapping. These crises are leading to macro- and microeconomic imbalances. The immediate effects like rising inflation, shortage of energy and fertiliser, food insecurity, loss of jobs and poverty are looming large, leading to existential threat. It is evident that decades of progress are at risk and pursuing sustainable development goals (SDGs) requires dedicated and customised efforts by the governments and other relevant actors, especially in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICS). The concept of circular economy is considered to bring a paradigm shift by reducing the dependence on natural resource extraction and decoupling economic growth from use of natural resources. Bioeconomy is another emerging field which deals with the use of renewable biological resources such as biomass to produce renewable biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower for economic, environmental and social benefits. Circular bioeconomy (CBE) lies at the intersection and is defined as the production of recoverable biological (waste) resources and the conversion of these resources into high-value-added products, such as food, feed, bio-based products and bioenergy. It has been estimated that the economic opportunity for the sector to complement or even substitute conventional ones is estimated to be USD 7.7 trillion by 2030 for food and feed waste products, and energy. CBE is perceived as a pathway for development and has the potential to target different SDGs directly like 6, 7 and 12 and SDGs 2, 3, 11, 12, 13 and 15 indirectly. This study explores the linkages of CBE with the SDG goals and provides recommendations to stimulate the sector.