This paper employs a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies spanning from 2011 to 2022 to empirically investigate the influence of climate policy uncertainty on the corporate cost of debt, based on the theory of financial friction. We find that climate policy uncertainty significantly increases the corporate cost of debt, and the result is supported by robustness tests. To avoid biases arisen from endogeneity, this paper introduces an instrumental variable approach and propensity score matching method for verification. The endogeneity test results support the baseline regression results as well. Finally, this paper also discovers that financing constraints are the potential mechanism behind the impact of climate policy uncertainty on the corporate cost of debt.

To address the escalating online romance scams within telecom fraud, we developed an Adaptive Random Forest Light Gradient Boosting (ARFLGB)-XGBoost early warning system. Our method involves compiling detailed Online Romance Scams (ORS) incident data into a 24-variable dataset, categorized to analyze feature importance with Random Forest and LightGBM models. An innovative adaptive algorithm, the Adaptive Random Forest Light Gradient Boosting, optimizes these features for integration with XGBoost, enhancing early Online romance scams threat detection. Our model showed significant performance improvements over traditional models, with accuracy gains of 3.9%, a 12.5% increase in precision, recall improvement by 5%, an F1 score increase by 5.6%, and a 5.2% increase in Area Under the Curve (AUC). This research highlights the essential role of advanced fraud detection in preserving communication network integrity, contributing to a stable economy and public safety, with implications for policymakers and industry in advancing secure communication infrastructure.

The digital era has transformed education, making digital literacy essential for teachers to integrate technology and enhance student outcomes effectively. This study aims to examine how school culture influences teachers’ performance through their digital literacy, focusing on junior high school teachers in Malang City, East Java, Indonesia. Employing a quantitative approach, data were collected from 214 teachers out of a 457 population using questionnaires. The analysis was conducted through AMOS for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), SPSS for descriptive statistics, and PLS-SEM for hypothesis testing. The findings reveal that school culture significantly affects teachers’ digital literacy (Ho1) and teacher performance (Ho2) with supportive and innovative environments, while rigid cultures limit creativity. Furthermore, digital literacy was found to enhance teachers’ performance (Ho3) and mediate the impact of school culture on teachers’ performance (Ho4), enhancing teachers’ effectiveness in planning, implementing, and evaluating instruction. This study highlights the critical role of school culture in shaping digital literacy and offers new insights for improving teacher practices in diverse educational settings. Moreover, the role of education policies in fostering a collaborative school culture that enhances teachers’ digital literacy and performance, leading to improved educational outcomes, plays a crucial implication.

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 research seeks to identify the value of a few common factors determining the speed of economic growth in Baltic states and analyzes their impact in detail on Latvia’s lagging. Latvia’s economic starting point after regaining independence because of the collapse of the Soviet Union was at least comparable to its neighbors. Still, after the implementation of liberal reforms towards a free market’ economy and 20 years of operation as an EU full member, Latvia is lagging in growth, prosperity, and innovation. Within the analysis, this scientific paper pays special attention to the three less discussed factors, namely, the impact of post-Soviet mind-set effects as a part of local innovation culture, lasting since regaining independence in 1991; the importance of the availability of talent pull, its density, diversity, and accessibility; and readiness and capability to capture external knowledge and technology adoption. The overall approach is the systemic assessment of the national innovation system and/or innovation ecosystem, trying to understand the differences between these two models. Research is performed by analysis of the performance of the local innovation ecosystem in connection with export- and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policies. The authors present a novel method for visually representing economic growth and its application in analyzing process development within transitional economic nations. The study uses an analytical and synthetical literature review. It offers a new GDP data visualization method useful for monitoring economic development and forecasting potential economic crises—the outcomes from aggregative literature analysis in a consolidated concept are provided for required talent policy proposals. The post-Soviet mindset is seen as a heritage and devious underdog that has left incredibly diverse consequences on today’s society, power structures, economic growth potential, and the emergence of healthy, well-managed, and sustainable innovation ecosystems. The post-Soviet mindset is a seemingly hidden and, at the same time, an intriguing factor that has a significant impact on the desire to make and implement the right decisions related to innovation, education, and other policies promoting business development. The key outcome of the article is that sociocultural aspects and differences in innovation culture led to a slow-down of Latvia’s economic growth compared to Estonia’s and Lithuania’s slightly more successful economic reforms.

This study explores the impact of technology effectiveness, social development, and opportunities on higher education accessibility in Myanmar, focusing on private higher education institutions. Utilizing a sample of 199 respondents, with an average age of X (SD = Y), the research employs standardized questionnaires and descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis to examine the relationships between these variables. The findings indicate that technology effectiveness significantly enhances higher education accessibility, with strong positive correlations (r = 0.752, p < 0.001) and substantial impacts on educational outcomes (β = 0.334, p = 0.001). Social development also plays a crucial role, demonstrating that supportive social norms and community engagement significantly improve accessibility (β = 0.405, p < 0.001). Opportunities provided by technological advancements further contribute to enhanced accessibility (β = 0.356, p < 0.001), although socio-political and economic challenges pose significant barriers. The study highlights the interconnectedness of these factors and their collective influence on educational accessibility. Practical implications include the need for strategic investments in technological infrastructure, promotion of supportive social environments, and innovative solutions to leverage opportunities. Future research directions suggest longitudinal studies, broader demographic scopes, and in-depth analyses of specific technological and infrastructural challenges. By addressing these areas, stakeholders can develop effective strategies to improve higher education accessibility, ultimately contributing to the socio-economic development of Myanmar.