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The purpose of this paper is to examine the efficiencies of China's foreign and domestic life insurance providers and to explore the relationship between ownership structure and the efficiencies of insurers while taking into consideration other firm attributes.

The data envelopment analysis (DEA) method is used to estimate the efficiencies of the insurers based on a panel data between 1999 and 2004.

The results indicate that the average efficiency scores for all the insurers are cyclical. Both technical and scale efficiency reached their peaks in 1999 and 2000 and gradually reduced for the rest of the period under examination until 2004 when average efficiency were improved again. The Tobit regression results show that the insurers' market power, the distribution channels used and the ownership structures may be attributed to the variation in the efficiencies.

Based on the research findings and the discussion, the study provides several recommendations for policy makers, regulators and senior executives of insurers.

The research results highlight the importance of deregulating the sector to allow a further expansion of each individual insurer or encourage mergers and acquisitions of insurers so more efficient resource utilization can be achieved through economies of scale. It also suggests that it is imperative for insurers to recruit motivated insurance agents and offer them on‐the‐job training as a part of the management strategies for gaining technical efficiency.

The paper reports the development within China's insurance industry and is one of the few studies analyzing the efficiencies of China's insurers.

With the ongoing catastrophe of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world seems to have come to a standstill. Daily living routines, work, and schools predominantly launched into a state of confusion, and people across the globe excessively find ways to cope with their experiences of this traumatic disaster. Concerning schools, the pandemic has dramatically challenged the education system with teaching and learning processes managed remotely, utilising online platforms. This paper explores university students’ perception of online learning, specifically during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, to uncover how they respond to this ‘new normal’ digital mode of teaching and learning and how they seek to regain control over the sudden shift in their lives. Through interviews with students from Universiti Darussalam (UBD) and Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali UNISSA, this original article reveals students’ transformative behaviours during online learning, and institutional supports that contribute to the shaping of students' online learning experiences in Brunei.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on university students during the Movement Control Order (MCO) and Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO). MCO was introduced in March 2020, and the learning process switched from face-to-face to online learning in schools and universities. Subsequently, with the reduced number of daily cases and active cases of COVID-19, the Malaysian Government implemented RMCO from 10th June to 31st December 2020, which had more relaxation of restrictions. This study particularly focuses on students studying in higher education institutions by analysing the impacts of the community of inquiry on students learning performance. The construct of the community of inquiry includes social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence.

This paper provides quantitative analysis, independent sample t-tests and multiple linear regression on the students’ learning performance using the framework of community of inquiry. This paper presents the analysis of the online learning preference of 282 university students during MCO and 456 students during RMCO.

The results showed that there is a significant difference in students learning process during MCO and RMCO. The findings also indicated that the social presence is the most important factor in affecting learning performance during the MCO period and it changed to teaching presence during RMCO. Students lost motivation and could not perform well using online learning methods during the MCO period but the situation improved during RMCO.

This research helps to identify the impact of the pandemic on higher education and provides insights into reshaping the future of higher education system.

Students are isolated from their peers in the learning process and struggle to adapt to the new normal in online learning. The teaching faculties are picking up new skills to deliver online courses and manage the risk as best as they can. This study presented the impact of the pandemic on students learning performance and explored the space for universities as business organizations to provide better infrastructures and platforms for online learning while battling with cash flow and debt level during this challenging time.

Students need peer support and guidance from the faculty team in their learning journey. The study provides a better understanding of how we shall promote a better higher education environment, either blended or online learning.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to examine the impact of the community of inquiry on students learning performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students suffered during the MCO period and the learning experience got better when they were able to adapt to the changes. The higher education system needs a reform and the agency theory in corporate governance plays an important role in the transformation.

Online learning is essential in today’s world. The COVID-19 has resulted in shutting down all the universities across the globe. Countries like India and Turkey (lower-income countries) are suffering a lot in giving the best classroom practice to their students through online mode. The entire way of teaching-learning has changed drastically, and it is a need of an hour. Research suggests that online learning has been shown to increase retention of information, and take less time, meaning the changes coronavirus have caused might be here to stay. It is therefore important to understand from student’s perspectives about learning online. The paper systematically surveys the perception of learning online for Indian and Turkan students.

To achieve this goal, 594 samples of students (from India and Turkey country) have been taken into considerations, and through statistical measures, the results were analyzed. The set of four research questions comprising of effect of study on COVID-19 pandemic, perception of learning online in COVID-19 pandemic, perception of different genders in learning online and perception of Indians over Turkan students in learning online were analyzed through statistical measures such as mean, standard deviation and so on.

The descriptive statistics of various responses across various dimensions (gender, country) reveals that there is no effect in learning online as compared to classroom-based teaching. On the other hand, there is no significant difference in gender and country in learning online.

Online learning has become crucial in higher education as far as pandemic situation is concerned. Many higher education institutions across different countries are suffering various problems from student point of view. Middle-income countries who are with limited assets and less advancements in higher education need to adhere to certain guidelines in online learning. This empirical study will help to understand the perception of students in online learning across India and Turkey.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing the adoption and utilization of the online examination portal (OEP) in Indian universities. This study combines the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Usage of Technology (UTAUT) and Task Technology Fit (TTF) to explain the user's intention to use an OEP at an Indian University.

This study's methodology combines UTAUT as a theoretical framework with TTF. It is conceptualized that TTF has a moderating effect on UTAUT's primary construct. The authors collected the data from 182 graduate students from an Indian university. PLS-SEM is used to identify the causal relationship between the constructs using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique.

The findings will demonstrate the applicability of the constructs of performance expectancy, effort expectancy and facilitating conditions in influencing the usage intention and behavior of students towards OEP. The outcome will also demonstrate the moderating effect of TTF on the predictors of intention to use OEP at an Indian University.

The sample respondents who participated in the study are students at the Indian University in Pune. The selection of samples was based on convenience sampling. Future research should be conducted at a variety of geographic locations, educational levels, undergraduate and graduate schools, as well as multiple universities. To increase the objectivity of sample selection, the probabilistic sampling method can be used to select samples. For future studies, larger sample sizes (more than 182) can be collected in order to increase the generalizability and applicability of the findings to other developing markets.

The study will aid Indian universities in enhancing the effectiveness of OEP. The study will also demonstrate the users' perception of the portal and their willingness to use it. It will also assist the university administration in finalizing the examination portal's implementation strategy.

Very few studies have been published on the factors influencing the acceptance and utilization of specific online examination systems. To address this underrepresentation, the current article investigates the factors and criteria that influence students' intent to use the OEP. The authors conceptualize the model using UTAUT as a theoretical foundation, which is absent from the published literature on the OEP. The study incorporated UTAUT and TTF to determine the impact on OEP usage and intent. In addition, the study contributes by testing the moderating effect of TTF on the UTAUT variables that influence the intention to use OEP.

Metal green parts fabricated by indirect selective laser sintering (SLS) have lower mechanical properties, and thus, they cannot satisfy practical application. To enhance their performance, two polymer resins were compounded as a modified material to infiltrate into the metal parts by SLS.

The viscosity and glass-transition temperature were tested by a viscometer and differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. The microstructure and morphology of the interface of parts by polymer resin infiltrated were observed to be using scanning electron microscopy. The tensile strength of sample parts was tested, too. The temperature tolerances of two mass ratio polymer materials were tested and compared by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA).

Compared to those without being polymer material infiltrated, the results of test showed that the tensile strength of the metallic parts is enhanced obviously, about four times. In addition, the analysis of TGA showed that the resin of mass ratio of 2:1 can be endured up to 200° and can be used as infiltrating materials for metal parts.

Therefore, plastic injection mold and function part can be manufactured by this method.

Soft rod-climbing robots have been known to have great potential in a wide variety of working conditions, including cable inspection and pipeline maintenance. However, one of the most notable issues preventing their popular adoption is their inability to effectively cross obstacles or transfer between rods. To overcome these difficulties, this paper aims to propose an inchworm-inspired soft robot with omni-directional steering.

Theoretical models are first established to analyze the telescopic deformation, bending, steering and climbing ability of the soft robot. The main modes of movement the soft robot is expected to encounter is then determined through controlled testing so to verify their effectiveness (those being rod climbing, steering and obstacle surmounting).

The soft robot demonstrated a capability to cross obstacles 1.3 times its own width and bend 120° omni-directionally, evidencing outstanding abilities in both omni-directional steering and obstacle surmounting. In addition, the soft robot also exhibited acceptable climbing performance in a variety of working conditions such as climbing along vertical rods, transferring between rods with differing diameters or friction surfaces and bearing a payload.

The soft robot proposed in this paper possesses abilities that are both exceptional and crucial for practical use, specifically with regard to its omni-directional steering and obstacle surmounting.

The purpose of this paper is to identify key missions in the “three nong” domain (i.e. issues related to agriculture, farmers and rural areas in China) that should be successfully accomplished to successfully implement the rural revitalization strategy.

Specified objectives involved in the grand goal of “Completing the Building of a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects” and China’s current achievements in the “three nong” domain are systematically compared; weak points are discussed and priorities to address these weak points are outlined.

In this paper, four key missions are identified: first, to win the battle against poverty; second, to stabilize the bedrock of agricultural and rural development; third, to complete key missions (i.e. to build and develop thriving businesses, pleasant living environments, socialized etiquette and civility, effective governance and prosperous life) in the initial stage of rural revitalization; and finally, to establish an efficient policy framework for prioritizing agricultural and rural development and mobilize resources to support the four priorities in agricultural and rural development (i.e. priorities in personnel, resource, funding and public service allocation).

This paper is the first to systematically summarize and identify key missions that should be accomplished for the successful implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.

Despite the proliferation of service chatbots in the tourism industry, the question on its continuance intentions among customers has largely remain unanswered. Building on an integrated framework using the task–technology fit theory (TTF) and the expectation–confirmation model (ECM), the present study aims to settle this debate by investigating the factors triggering customers to continue to use chatbots in a travel planning context.

The research followed a quantitative approach in which a survey of 322 chatbot users was undertaken. The model was empirically validated using the structural equation modelling approach using AMOS.

The results reveal that users’ expectations are confirmed when they believe that the technological characteristics of chatbots satisfy their task-related characteristics. Simply, the results reveal a significant and direct effect of TTF on customers’ confirmation and perceived usefulness towards chatbots. Moreover, perceived usefulness and confirmation were found to positively impact customers’ satisfaction towards chatbots, in which the former exerts a relatively stronger impact. Not surprisingly, customers’ satisfaction with the artificial intelligence(AI)-based chatbots emerged as a predominant predictor of their continuance use.

The findings have various practical ramifications for developers who must train chatbot algorithms on massive data to increase their accuracy and to answer more exhaustive inquiries, thereby generating a task–technology fit. It is recommended that service providers give consumers hassle-free service and precise answers to their inquiries to guarantee their satisfaction.

The present work attempted to empirically construct and evaluate the combination of the TTF model and the ECM, which is unique in the AI-based chatbots available in a tourism context. This research presents an alternate method for understanding the continuance intentions concerning AI-based service chatbots.

This paper aims to analyze the pressure distribution of rectangular aerostatic thrust bearing with a single air supply inlet using the complex potential theory and conformal mapping.

The Möbius transform is used to map the interior of a rectangle onto the interior of a unit circle, from which the pressure distribution and load carrying capacity are obtained. The calculation results are verified by finite difference method.

The constructed Möbius formula is very effective for the performance characteristics researches for the rectangular thrust bearing with a single air supply inlet. In addition, it is also noted that to obtain the optimized load carrying capacity, the square thrust bearing can be adopted.

The Möbius transform is found suitable to describe the pressure distribution of the rectangular thrust bearing with a single air supply inlet.