The Human Development Index, which accounts for both net foreign income and the total value of goods and services generated domestically, illustrates how income becomes less significant as Gross National Income (GNI) rises by using the logarithm of income. South Africa ranks 109th out of 189 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) within the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) economic bloc, raising long-term sustainability concerns. The study explores the relationship between economic, demography, policy indicators and human development in South Africa. South Africa’s unique status as a developing country within the BRICS economic group, alongside its lengthy history of racial discrimination, calls for a sophisticated approach to understanding Human Development. Existing research considered economic, demography, policy indicators independently; the gap of understanding their interconnection and long-term effects in the South African contexts exists. The study addresses the gap by using Autoregressive-Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to investigate the short-term and the long-term relationship between economic, demography, policy indicators and human development in South Africa. By discovering these links, the study hopes to provide useful insights for policymakers seeking to promote sustainable human development in South Africa. The findings indicate that growth in GDP is a key factor in the HDI since it shows that there are more financial resources available for human development. By discovering these links, the study hopes to provide useful insights for policymakers seeking to promote sustainable human development in South Africa.

This paper aims to explore the issue of human actions in Islamic thought, focusing on the various stances regarding determinism, free will, and the intermediate position between them. This topic is linked to an ontological question: What are the limits of human responsibility for their actions? Our view is that the different positions on human actions reflect the presence of pluralism within Islamic thought, specifically through the discipline of Islamic theology (kalām). The difference in positions about the human actions within the science of theology expresses the vitality of Islamic thought and its appreciation of the right to differ between theological schools such as the Mu’tazila, Shi’a, and Sunnis, especially in an era dominated by the rationalism of Mu’tazila thought influenced by the methodology of Greek philosophical thought. This difference was recognized, especially in the third and fourth centuries AH/ninth and tenth centuries AD. We consider this difference in discussing the subject of the human actions as evidence of the principle of pluralism in Islam, which allows us to speak of the existence of a significant degree of intellectual tolerance, a subject that has not been studied to date. The prevailing view in studies today on this subject is that the theological groups accuse each other of unbelief, which is a mistaken position, because the saying of unbelief did not appear until after the fourth century AH/tenth century AD when transmission, reliability, and conservatism prevailed in Islamic thought. In addressing this issue, we examine three major stances on human actions as represented by three theological schools: The Mu’tazila (who advocated free will in human actions), the Jabriya (who advocated determinism in human actions), and the Ash’ariyya (who upheld the theory of acquisition). Once this is accomplished, we will explore the philosophy of pluralism in Islam through the lens of kalām. The most important conclusion we reached is that the debate on human actions opened, by the mid-4th century AH/10th century CE, an intellectual horizon that laid the foundations for pluralism in Islamic theological discussions. However, this horizon was soon closed due to various factors, which we have discussed throughout the paper.

Students from different cultures possess varying levels of skills in learning, remembering, and understanding concepts. Some terms and their explanations may seem easy for one group of students but difficult for another. Therefore, delivering educational content that aligns with student’s learning capabilities is a challenging task based on cultural orientations. This study addresses the learning challenges by developing a Thesaurus Glossary E-learning (TGE) framework method. This study introduces the TGE method which is a multi-language tool with visual associations that adapts to students’ capabilities. It also examines cultural differences and native languages, particularly aiding Arab Native to visualize appropriate terms (thesaurus) and their explanations (glossary) based on students’ learning capabilities. TGE learns from students’ term selection behavior and displays terms at a simple or advanced level that matches their learning ability. Additionally, TGE demonstrated its effectiveness as an e-learning tool, accessible to all students anytime and anywhere. The study analyzed 314 records related to student performance, out of which 114 students were surveyed to evaluate the effectiveness of the TGE method. This work presents TGE as a novel e-learning tool designed to enhance conceptual thinking within the context of modern educational practices during the digital transformation. TGE is based on artificial intelligence algorithms and associative rules that simulate the human brain, establishing logical connections between related key terms and sketching associations among diverse facets of a situation. An experiment was conducted at a private university in the Sultanate of Oman to assess the effectiveness of the proposed TGE tool. TGE was integrated with selected subjects in information systems and used by the students as a resource for e-learning methods and materials. The results show that 85% of students who used TGE improved their performance by 19%. We believe this work could establish a new smart e-learning teaching method and attract modern and digital universities to enhance student learning outcomes linked with conceptual thinking.

Diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) are gaining prominence in healthcare systems worldwide to standardize potential payments to hospitals. This study, conducted across public hospitals, investigates the impact of DRG implementation on human resource allocation and management practices. The research findings reveal significant changes in job roles and skill requirements based on a mixed-methods approach involving 70 healthcare professionals across various roles. 50% of respondents reported changes in daily responsibilities, and 42% noted the creation of new roles in their organizations. Significant challenges include inadequate training (46%), and coding complexity (38%). Factor analysis revealed a complex relationship between DRG familiarity, job satisfaction, and staff morale. The study also found a moderate negative correlation between the impact on morale and years of service in the current hospital, suggesting that longer-tenured staff may require additional support in adapting to DRG systems. This study addresses a knowledge gap in the human resource aspects of DRG implementation. It provides healthcare administrators and policymakers with evidence to inform strategies for effective DRG adoption and workforce management in public hospitals.

This study investigates the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) integration on preventing employee burnout through a human-centered, multimodal approach. Given the increasing prevalence of AI in workplace settings, this research seeks to understand how various dimensions of AI integration—such as the intensity of integration, employee training, personalization of AI tools, and the frequency of AI feedback—affect employee burnout. A quantitative approach was employed, involving a survey of 320 participants from high-stress sectors such as healthcare and IT. The findings reveal that the benefits of AI in reducing burnout are substantial yet highly dependent on the implementation strategy. Effective AI integration that includes comprehensive training, high personalization, and regular, constructive feedback correlates with lower levels of burnout. These results suggest that the mere introduction of AI technologies is insufficient for reducing burnout; instead, a holistic strategy that includes thorough employee training, tailored personalization, and continuous feedback is crucial for leveraging AI’s potential to alleviate workplace stress. This study provides valuable insights for organizational leaders and policymakers aiming to develop informed AI deployment strategies that prioritize employee well-being.

In the human and economic development context, this study examines the relationship between human capital, life expectancy, labor force participation rate, and education level in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The World Bank’s 2001–2021 data are examined using a panel vector autoregressive model. The findings demonstrate the substantial influence of health expenditure from the prior period on present health expenditure. Though not significantly different, life expectancy and education levels from earlier periods also impact present health spending. A slight positive correlation exists between prior labor force involvement and present healthcare costs. An increase in current health expenditure supports an increase in life expectancy. Health expenditure in the previous period had a significant positive effect on education, although insignificant. Life expectancy in the previous period harms current education but is also insignificant. Education in the previous period significantly positively affects current education, indicating a sustained impact of education investment. Labor force participation in the previous period also positively affected education, although not significantly. The prior period’s health spending, life expectancy, and educational attainment impact the current labor force participation rate. The length of life has a significant favorable impact on entering the labor sector. Currently being in the job field has a good correlation with prior education as well. These findings support that higher education levels lead to higher labor force participation rates. Life expectancy, health care costs, education level, and prior work experience all influence current life expectancy. While prior life expectancy significantly influences current life expectancy, health expenditures have a negligible negative impact. Prior education positively impacts life expectancy but negatively impacts prior labor force engagement. These results reject the hypothesis that increasing life expectancy causes current health expenditure to increase.