This study examines how economic freedom and competition affect bank stability. We use data from 70 ASEAN-4 banks from 2007 to 2019 using the system generalized technique of moments. Results corroborate competition-fragility hypothesis. Market strength (or less competition) can boost bank stability. However, in the ASEAN-4 area, competition and bank stability have a non-linear relationship, suggesting that bank stability may decline after market strength exceeds a threshold. Financial and economic freedom also boosts bank stability. This implies banks in free financial and economic contexts are more stable. Banks with more market dominance in nations with more economic or financial autonomy may also be more unstable. The findings suggest that authorities should allow some competition and economic flexibility to keep banks stable. The study examined ASEAN-4 economic freedom’s effects empirically for the first time. It illuminates competitiveness and bank stability.

With the rapid development of global e-commerce, cross-border e-commerce has become an important force in promoting international trade and economic globalization. Due to the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce, the number of online disputes is gradually increasing. These disputes demonstrate their complexity and diversity in terms of legal application, evidence acquisition, and enforcement. Tmall Global is a cross-border e-commerce platform under the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. This study takes Tmall Global as an example to analyze the characteristics of disputes on this platform and explore the current situation of online disputes in cross-border e-commerce. Drawing on the experience of online dispute resolution in the European Union, ASEAN, and other regions, this article proposes a series of suggestions to improve China’s cross-border e-commerce online dispute resolution mechanism, including enhancing the platform’s own dispute resolution capabilities, strengthening international cooperation and artificial intelligence, optimizing dispute resolution processes using large data and cloud computing, strengthening consumer rights protection, and optimizing legal and regulatory frameworks. The aim is to provide an effective dispute resolution mechanism for China’s cross-border e-commerce platforms and provide useful reference for other countries.

Access to affordable and quality medicines plays a vital role for achieving Universal Health Coverage and in reducing out-of-pocket expenditures (OOPE) for households especially in developing nations such as India. Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP), a Government of India initiative, aims to make low-cost and quality generic drugs and surgical equipment accessible to all segments of the population through its dedicated store outlets known as Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendra (PMBJK). In this study, a pilot survey comprising 20 stores/PMBJKs and 150 citizens was undertaken in the Bengaluru Urban District, India to understand various aspects of the PMBJKs including availability of drugs, stock-outs, accessibility to stores, perception and awareness levels along with challenges faced by store owners and citizens/beneficiaries. Based on the survey results, we capture the availability of drugs for 35 medicines and consumables belonging to 12 therapeutic categories across 20 store outlets. We also provide valuable insights and interdisciplinary recommendations on several facets including adopting technology-based measures for day-to-day functioning of stores, need for in-depth supply chain analysis for ensuring availability of drugs, encouraging prescription of generic medicines, increasing awareness levels in addition to promoting grassroot-level research, surveys and feedback mechanisms. These suggestions are expected to find their utility in policy-making, strengthen the implementation of the PMBJP scheme across Bengaluru and India as well as contribute towards achieving related Sustainable Development Goals.

The Method of Discretization in Time (MDT) is a hybrid numerical technique intended to alleviate upfront the computational procedure of timedependent partial differential equations of parabolic type upfront. The MDT engenders a sequence of adjoint second order ordinary differential equations, wherein the space coordinate is the independent variable and time becomes an embedded parameter. Essentially, the adjoint second order ordinary differential equations are considered of “quasistationary” nature. In this work, the MDT is used for the analysis of unsteady heat conduction in regular bodies (large wall, long cylinder and sphere) accounting for nearly constant thermophysical properties, uniform initial temperature and surface heat flux. In engineering applications, the surface heat flux is customarily provided by electrical heating, radiative heating and pool fire heating. It is demonstrated that the approximate, semianalytical temperature solutions of the first adjoint “quasistationary” heat conduction equations using the first time jump are easily obtainable for each regular body. For enhanced acccuracy, regression analysis is applied to the deviations of the dimensionless surface temperature as a function of the dimensionless time for each regular body.

Three-dimensionally cross-linked polymer nanocomposite networks coated nano sand light-weight proppants (LWPs) were successfully prepared via ball-milling the macro sand and subsequently modifying the resultant nano sand with sequential polymer nanocomposite coating. The modified nano sand proppants had good sphericity and roundness. Thermal analyses showed that the samples can withstand up to 411 ℃. Moreover, the proppant samples’ specific gravity (S.G.) was 1.02–1.10 g/cm³ with excellent water dispersibility. Therefore, cross-linked polymer nanocomposite networks coated nano sand particles can act as potential candidates as water-carrying proppants for hydraulic fracturing operations.