The allocation of funds in the local budget is a matter of concern for the governments and economic scholars. The study examines the influence of local budget expenditures on the GRDP per capita of 63 provinces and municipalities in Vietnam from 2018 to 2022. Regression analysis of panel data reveals that capital expenditure has a positive correlation with local GRDP per capita, whereas current expenditure has a negative correlation with GRDP per capita. Furthermore, the analysis indicates that the percentage of individuals aged 15 and above who are employed and the percentage of urban citizens have an equivalent influence as the GRDP per capita. Conversely, the average age and local Gini coefficient have contrasting effects on GRDP per capita. The author suggests several policy alternatives to assist localities in boosting their GRDP per capita based on the findings of the study model.

This study investigated the changing land use patterns and their impacts on ecosystem in the Teesta River Basin of northwestern Bangladesh. Although anthropocentric land use patterns, including agricultural land use, settlements, built areas, and waterbody loss, have been increasing in the Nilphamari district, by negatively affecting local ecosystems, they have not been identified by prior research. Limitations of contemporary literature motivated me to work on this crucial ground in the Teesta River Basin in Northwestern Bangladesh. This study applied a mixed research approach to identify the study objectives. Firstly, the land use and land cover (LULC) changes which occurred between 2000 and 2020 were detected using satellite imagery and supervised classification method. In addition to the detection of LULC changes, the study explored the people’s perceptions and experiences about the ecosystem changes resulted from the LULC changes over the last 20 years, conducting stakeholders’ consultations and household surveys utilizing a semi-structured questionnaire. The findings indicated that waterbodies in Nilphamari district have significantly decreased from 378 km² in 2000 to 181 km² in 2020. In the same way, the vegetation coverage has reduced 187 km² between the years 2000 and 2020. On the contrary, agricultural lands (croplands) have increased from 595 km² to 905 km² and settlements have increased from 81 km² to 206 km² between the years 2000 and 2020. From the chi-square test, it was found a significant association between ecosystem change and biodiversity loss. It was further identified that waterbody decreases have significant impacts on aquatic ecosystems. The results of this study also indicated that due to the introduction of foreign tree species, local and native species have been significantly decreasing over the time. This study emphasizes the non-anthropocentric and inclusive land use policy implications for protecting life on land and preserving the aquatic ecosystem in Bangladesh.

This study examines the impact of parliamentary thresholds on the Indonesian political system through the lens of the Routine Policy Implementation Model and the Strategic Policy Implementation Model. The main objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of parliamentary thresholds in managing political fragmentation, assess their impact on stability and representation in the legislative system, and understand their implementation’s technical and strategic implications. Using a qualitative approach supported by interview studies and field observations, this research combines analysis of election data in the 2009, 2014, and 2019 elections with a qualitative assessment of policy changes and political dynamics. The Routine Policy Implementation Model focuses on the technical aspects of threshold implementation, including vote counting procedures and seat allocation efficiency. Meanwhile, the Strategic Policy Implementation Model examines the broader implications of these thresholds for political consolidation, government effectiveness, and the representation of minor parties. The results show that the parliamentary threshold has significantly reduced political fragmentation by consolidating the number of parties in Parliament, resulting in a legislative system that is cleaner and easier to administer. However, this consolidation has also marginalized small parties and limited political diversity. The novelty of this study lies in its comprehensive analysis of how parliamentary thresholds affect administrative efficiency and strategic political stability in Indonesia, compared to democratic countries in transition, such as Slovenia and Montenegro. In conclusion, although parliamentary thresholds have increased political stability and government effectiveness, they have also raised concerns about the reduced representation of small and regional parties. The study recommends maintaining balanced thresholds that ensure stability and diversity, implementing mechanisms to review thresholds periodically, and involving diverse stakeholders in adjusting policies to reflect evolving political dynamics. This approach will help balance the need for a stable legislative environment with broad representation.

Fiscal spending for road construction to link Kalabakan, Sabah, Malaysia with North Kalimantan, Indonesia is an idea that have been proposed for over 20 years. The announcement for the relocation of Indonesia’s capital city from Jakarta to East Kalimantan give a strong justification for the construction of the Serudong-Simanggaris road. The fact that population size is big in Kalimantan and strong purchasing power is estimated in North and East Kaliamantan provide a strong argument for the need to have a road link. Having said that, the effect of road construction on output growth is not clear. The purpose of this study is to estimate the impact of road construction and the business activities across two sectors being assumed on output Sabah’s output growth. Based on the input-output analysis conducted using the output multiplier, the one-off road construction would lead to 1.8% growth in Sabah’s overall output.

This paper aims to contribute with a literature review on the use of AI for cleaner production throughout industries in the consideration of AI’s advantage within the environment, economy, and society. The survey report based on the analysis of research papers from the recent literature from leading database sources such as Scopus, the Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, Science Direct, Springer Link, and Google Scholar identifies the strategic strengths of AI in optimizing the resources, minimizing the carbon footprint and eradicating wastage with the help of machined learning, neural networks and predictive analytics. AI integration presents vast aspects of environmental gains, including such enhancements as a marked reduction concerning the energy and materials consumed along with enhanced ways of handling the resulting waste. On the economic aspect, AI enhances the processes that lead to better efficiency and lower costs in the market on the other hand, on the social aspect, the application of any AI influences how people are utilized as workers/clients in the community. The following are some of the limitations towards AI adoption as proposed by the review of related literature; The best things that come with AI are yet accompanied by some disadvantages; there are implementation costs, data privacy, as well as system integration that may be a major disadvantage. The review envisages that with the continuation of the AI development in the following years, the optic is going to be the accentuation on the enhancement of the process of feeding the data in real-time mode, IoT connections, and the implementation of the proper ethical approaches toward the AI launching for all segments of the society. The conclusions provide precise suggestions to the people working in the industry to adopt the AI advancements appropriately and at the same time, encourage the lawmakers to create favorable legal environments to enable the ethical uses of AI. This review therefore calls for more targeted partnerships between the academia, industry, and government to harness the full potential of AI for sustainable industrial practices worldwide.

This research endeavors to assess the legal requirements for the operation of mediation and conciliation centers in the UAE based on Federal Law No. 17 of 2016 and its amendment in 2021 No. 5. It is structured into three main sections: the first establishes and defines these centers, the second defines conciliation procedures and the third considers the preceding. The aim is to identify the legal procedures associated with mediation and conciliation centers within the UAE judicial systems and their function in providing solutions for civil and business litigations with the most efficiency and minor financial investments. It also calls for using other forms of conflict adjudication before adopting the legal approach. The conclusions and recommendations indicate the necessity of further improving the Mediation and Conciliation Centers Law due to the necessity of legislative shifts, which would contribute to the UAE’s leading position in legislation related to centers for mediation and conciliation.