This study critically examines the relationship between Total Quality Management (TQM) and Service Quality (SQ) within Dubai’s housing sector, with a specific focus on the moderating influence of blockchain technology (BT) in this relationship. Employing a quantitative approach grounded in a deductive research strategy and positivist epistemology, data were gathered from a sample of industry professionals and subjected to rigorous analysis using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that the deliberate deployment of TQM methodologies leads to significant improvements in SQ metrics, and the catalytic role of BT further enhances these service quality improvements. The study highlights the transformative potential of BT in recalibrating conventional paradigms of service delivery within the housing sector. Specifically, the analysis reveals that BT plays a pivotal moderating role in the relationship between TQM practices and SQ outcomes, thereby enriching our comprehension of the intricate interplay between these constructs. The study concludes by furnishing nuanced insights into the multifaceted dynamics shaping SQ within the housing sector, while also delineating avenues for future inquiry.

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.

Considering increasing concerns about climate change and its implications for global agricultural competitiveness and food security, a small text has assessed the sensitivity of agriculture competitiveness employing a composite scale to the climate change impacts. The world’s food production and supply chains have been jeopardized strain as the world struggles to cope with the far-reaching consequences of climate change, which are worsened by a series of natural disasters, the Ukraine-Russia war, and the continuous fight against infectious diseases like COVID-19. Natural disasters and armed conflicts are overstretching people’s capabilities to acquire nutritive foods at economical/reasonable prices, risking local and global food security and agricultural market competitiveness. The study develops a framework for global agricultural competitiveness assessment by conducting a Delphi Expert survey. The framework has served as a global benchmark for assessing and comparing the national and international agriculture landscape. Its implementation will significantly contribute to the development of policies that promote inclusive and sustainable agricultural practices. Through this action, it guarantees to substantially enhance worldwide food security, thereby effectively tackling the urgent issues that impact communities across the globe.

Surveys are one of the most important tasks to be executed to get valued information. One of the main problems is how the data about many different persons can be processed to give good information about their environment. Modelling environments through Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) is highly common because ANN’s are excellent to model predictable environments using a set of data. ANN’s are good in dealing with sets of data with some noise, but they are fundamentally surjective mathematical functions, and they aren’t able to give different results for the same input. So, if an ANN is trained using data where samples with the same input configuration has different outputs, which can be the case of survey data, it can be a major problem for the success of modelling the environment. The environment used to demonstrate the study is a strategic environment that is used to predict the impact of the applied strategies to an organization financial result, but the conclusions are not limited to this type of environment. Therefore, is necessary to adjust, eliminate invalid and inconsistent data. This permits one to maximize the probability of success and precision in modeling the desired environment. This study demonstrates, describes and evaluates each step of a process to prepare data for use, to improve the performance and precision of the ANNs used to obtain the model. This is, to improve the model quality. As a result of the studied process, it is possible to see a significant improvement both in the possibility of building a model as in its accuracy.

The issue of quality of higher vocational education in China has become a common concern in all aspects of society, and promoting the improvement of the quality of education within higher vocational colleges is an important way to realize the high-quality development of higher vocational education. Based on the self-constructed five-dimensional model of factors influencing the improvement of the quality of education within higher vocational colleges, an empirical study was conducted using questionnaires and SPSS27.0 software on the teacher and student groups within 13 higher vocational colleges in Hainan Province, and the results showed that the teacher groups of different genders, titles, ages, academic qualifications and disciplines as well as the student groups of different genders and admission modes have different opinions on factors such as the level of governance, education and teaching, the integration of industry and education, student development and policy guarantees; and that there are different degrees of perception differences between teachers’ and students’ groups on the effect of internal education quality improvement. In order to promote the internal quality improvement of higher vocational colleges, it is necessary to improve the construction of modern university system to enhance the governance level, deepen the integration of production and teaching to innovate the education and training mode of talents, promote the development of the whole chain of education to improve the comprehensive quality of students, strengthen the construction of teaching staff to deepen the reform of education and teaching, and innovate the internal education policy and system to regulate the management order.

With the development of the times and changes in the environment of traditional martial arts, Choi Lei Fut (a Chinese martial arts system), a Chinese state-level intangible cultural heritage, is facing many difficulties in its inheritance and sustainable development. Especially in the context of COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures, the sustainable development of Choi Lei Fut is facing increasingly serious challenges. In order to understand the current situation of Choi Lei Fut’s survival and development in the new era, and to enhance the momentum and vitality of its sustainable development, this study combines questionnaire survey and field interviews to investigate and analyze the current situation. Based on this, it proposes strategies to promote the sustainable development of Choi Lei Fut. This study will not only provide methodological reference for the inheritance and development of Choi Lei Fut but also offer insights for the inheritance and sustainable development of other Chinese martial arts gyms and even martial arts practices elsewhere.