The role of technology in stimulating economic growth needs to be reexamined considering current heightened economic conditions of Asian developing Economies. This study conducts a comparative analysis of technology proxied by R&D expenditures alongside macroeconomic variables crucial for economic growth. Monthly time-series data from 1990 to 2019 were analyzed using a vector error correction model (VECM), revealing a significant impact of technology on the economic growth of India, Pakistan, and the Philippines. However, in the cases of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Bangladesh, macroeconomic indicators were found more crucial to their economic growth. Results of Granger causality underlined the relationship of R&D expenditures and macroeconomic variables with GDP growth rates. Sensitivity analyses endorsed robustness of the results which highlighted the significance and originality of this study in economic growth aligned with sustainable development goals (SDGs) for developing countries.

Modelling and simulation have now become standard methods that serve to cut the economic costs of R&D for novel advanced systems. This paper introduces the study of modelling and simulation of the infrared thermography process to detect defects in the hydroelectric penstock. A 3-D penstock model was built in ANSYS version 19.2.0. Flat bottom holes of different sizes and depths were created on the inner surface of the model as an optimal scenario to represent the subsurface defect in the penstock. The FEM was applied to mimic the heat transfer in the proposed model. The model’s outer surface was excited at multiple excitation frequencies by a sinusoidal heat flux, and the thermal response of the model was presented in the form of thermal images to show the temperature contrast due to the presence of defects. The harmonic approximation method was applied to calculate the phase angle, and its relationship with respect to defect depth and defect size was also studied. The results confirmed that the FEM model has led to a better understanding of lock-in infrared thermography and can be used to detect subsurface defects in the hydroelectric penstock.

This paper aims to investigate the determinants of performance for insurance companies in Tunisia from 2004 to 2017. Namely, we consider three dimensions of determinants; those related to firms’ microenvironment, macroenvironment and meso or industry environment. The performance of insurance companies is measured using three criteria: Return On Assets (ROA), Return On Equity (ROE), and Combined Ratio. The independent variables are categorized into three groups: microeconomic variables (Firm Size, Financial leverage, Capital management risk, Volume of capital, and Age of the firm), meso-economic variables (Concentration ratio and Insurance Sector Size), and macroeconomic variables (Inflation, Unemployment, and Population Growth). The General Least Squares (GLS) regression technique is employed for the analysis. The study reveals that the financial performance of Tunisian insurance companies is positively influenced by firm size, capital amount, and risk capital management. On the other hand, it is negatively influenced by leverage level, industry size, concentration index, inflation, and unemployment. In terms of technical performance, the capital amount of the firm, industry size, age of the firm, and population growth have a positive impact. However, firm size, leverage, concentration index, and risk capital management negatively affect technical performance. This paper contributes to the existing literature by examining the determinants of performance specifically for insurance companies in Tunisia. Besides the classical proxies of performance, this paper has the originality of using the technical performance which is the most suitable for the case of Insurance companies.

Recent research efforts have increasingly concentrated on creating innovative biomaterials to improve bone tissue engineering techniques. Among these, hybrid nanomaterials stand out as a promising category of biomaterials. In this study, we present a straightforward, cost-efficient, and optimized hydrothermal synthesis method to produce high-purity Ta-doped potassium titanate nanofibers. Morphological characterizations revealed that Ta-doping maintained the native crystal structure of potassium titanate, highlighting its exciting potential in bone tissue engineering.

The aim of this paper is to develop a methodology for determining the size of the unified land tax in agriculture based on the results of the economic assessment of agricultural land to form the foundation of a new effective system of macroeconomic instruments for state regulation of the innovative development of the agro-industrial complex of the Republic of Kazakhstan. There were used gatherings of facts and summaries, induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, historical and logical, normative, comparison, index and modeling methods in the research. The article provides an overview of various scholarly perspectives on the challenges and strategies for improving the tax system. The base rates of the unified land tax per hectare of arable land have been calculated to establish equal conditions for all land users. This unified land tax rate is expected to encourage the efficient utilization of land resources and enable the optimization of production structure. The article addresses avenues for improving water management relations in agriculture, aimed at fostering a shared interest and creating incentives for adopting innovative technologies in both agriculture and the water management sector. An essential condition for achieving the effective functioning of Kazakhstan’s agro-industrial complex is its transformation to an innovative development model. This necessitates the development and application of a new system of macroeconomic tools for its implementation, aimed at creating a favorable environment for entrepreneurial development.