Institutional thinking, a concept that underscores the importance of internal perspectives and the enduring purposes of institutions, plays a critical role in maintaining societal stability and ethical governance. This paper explores the dual nature of institutional thinking, highlighting its positive aspects and inherent dangers. Through an examination of economic, political, and philosophical forces, the paper identifies modern challenges that undermine long-term commitments and ethical values within institutions. By drawing on historical and contemporary examples, including slavery, Nazism, and discriminatory practices, the discussion provides a comprehensive understanding of how institutional thinking can both promote human well-being and perpetuate systemic issues. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need to reaffirm institutional values, promote long-term thinking, and balance individual rights with collective responsibilities to harness the positive aspects of institutional thinking while mitigating its risks.

This research focuses on addressing critical driving safety issues on university campuses, particularly vehicular congestion, inadequate parking, and hazards arising from the interaction between vehicles and pedestrians. These challenges are common across campuses and demand effective solutions to ensure safe and efficient mobility. To address these issues, the study developed detailed microsimulation models tailored to the Victor Levi Sasso campus of the Technological University of Panama. The primary function of these models is to evaluate the effectiveness of various safety interventions, such as speed reducers and parking reorganization, by simulating their impact on traffic flow and accident risk. The models provide calculations of traffic parameters, including speed and travel time, under different safety scenarios, allowing for a comprehensive assessment of potential improvements. The results demonstrate that the proposed measures significantly enhance safety and traffic efficiency, proving the model’s effectiveness in optimizing campus mobility. Although the model is designed to tackle specific safety concerns, it also offers broader applicability for addressing general driving safety issues on university campuses. This versatility makes it a valuable tool for campus planners and administrators seeking to create safer and more efficient traffic environments. Future research could expand the model’s application to include a wider range of safety concerns, further enhancing its utility in promoting safer campus mobility.

Using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), this study investigated the effect of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, facilitating condition, lifestyle compatibility, and perceived trust on both the intention to use and adoption of an e-wallet among adults. This quantitative study employed a cross-sectional research technique to collect data from 501 respondents via Google Form. The acquired data was assessed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Therefore, perceived usefulness, perceived simplicity of use, social influence, lifestyle compatibility, and perceived trust all had a strong positive impact on both intentions to use and adoption of an e-wallet. This study demonstrated that the intention to use an e-wallet mediated the links between predictors and e-wallet adoption. Respondents’ age and gender moderated the effect of lifestyle compatibility on their intention to use an e-wallet. The study’s findings can assist managers and policymakers establish successful ways that capture customers’ intention to use and experience with employing an e-wallet amid a tumultuous market. Finally, such well-crafted policies may stimulate the digital platform and web-based apps, as well as raise e-wallet acceptance rates in undeveloped countries.

European commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, told Le Journal du Dimanche in January 2022, “Existing nuclear plants alone will need 50 billion euros of investment from now until 2030. And new generation ones will need 500 billion”. This paper considers whether these values are realistic. Further, it asks whether these investments would yield an internationally competitive European nuclear power infrastructure given that the nuclear power industries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries have lost global nuclear market share to Russian and Chinese firms since 1995.The paper investigates whether the European nuclear industry even with massive investment can compete with the Chinese nuclear industries. It concludes that the European (in particular, the French) nuclear power industry will be unlikely to be cost competitive with the Chinese nuclear power industry unless financing and new plant orders are immediately forthcoming. To achieve carbon neutrality, the issue becomes whether European Union countries can afford indigenous nuclear technologies or will need to import nuclear power plants from Asia.

The nighttime economy has always been an important part of tourism in Thailand. The alcohol industry contends that lifting alcohol restrictions will promote tourism and, consequently, generate additional income. Endogenous Growth Theory, however, emphasizes on investing in human capital, innovation, and knowledge as the most important factors that affect economic growth for a nation. Alcohol consumption incurs opportunity costs, as households lose financial resources and time that could be invested in children’s development. Relaxing control measures to promote alcohol consumption should impede economic development by diminishing the quality of human resources. The paper, therefore, aims to estimate the impact of alcohol consumption on economic growth by using 1990–2019 annual data from Thailand. By adopting Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach, the results reveal that alcohol consumption has significant and negative effects on economic growth in the long run. The statistic tests demonstrate no presence of serial correlation, heteroskedasticity, as well as, endogeneity problems. The finding has been corroborated in international studies, in which alcohol consumption contributes to substantial social and economic costs of the society.

This research examines the influence of virtual community platform attributes on luxury consumers’ purchase intentions, with a specific focus on the role of policy innovation in digital infrastructure. The study aims to 1) identify key factors affecting purchase intentions toward luxury products in virtual environments; 2) develop and validate a structural equation model to analyze these intentions; and 3) provide actionable insights for luxury goods marketers to refine their strategies within these platforms. Utilizing a structural equation model, the study investigates the interactions among various determinants of consumer behavior in virtual communities, highlighting the impact of policy innovation. Data was collected through purposive sampling from 1142 respondents in China’s top 10 high-spending cities on luxury goods, ensuring data relevance. The findings emphasize the significance of knowledge sharing, interactive communication, and leaders’ opinions in virtual communities in building consumer trust and shaping perceptions of online reviews. These elements influence purchase intentions directly and indirectly, with consumer trust serving as a crucial mediator. The study reveals the substantial impact of virtual community attributes on fostering consumer trust and shaping buying decisions for luxury items, underlining the contribution of social development processes. Moreover, the role of policy innovation is found to be significant in enhancing these virtual community dynamics, suggesting that regulatory changes can positively influence consumer engagement and trust. The conclusions offer valuable implications for marketers, proposing strategies to boost consumer engagement and drive sales in virtual settings. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of digital consumer behavior and provides practical strategies for innovation and growth within the luxury goods sector, emphasizing the critical role of policy innovation in shaping these dynamics.

The authors’ decision to “read” and semiotically analyse the city’s text based on travelogues stems from their aesthetic, historical and informational value, the possibility of incorporating them “into the network” of other texts about Padua, thus shaping city image. The authors’ research on Slovak literature and culture also determined the choice. As a time frame, the nineteenth century is not accidental; the Slovak cultural environment (the territory of present-day Slovakia) witnessed the development of the travelogue genre and journeys to Italy. By interpreting and semiotic analysis of the selected authors’ travelogues and works, the paper draws attention to the uniqueness of Padua, the ways of its representation and the grasping of the urban space, which until now despite its importance in education, sciences and art has remained unnoticed in literary studies. Considering that only four Slovak travellers included Padua in their writings during the studied period, all of their works were reviewed to uncover their texts’ semantic potential. Interpretive immersions thus reflect the experiential reception of the author’s city image and perceiving its architectural structure. Through this, the authors develop a network of texts about Padua and support the typological classification according to its specific function or image. This paper articulates a variant of the Slovak phenomenon of Italian travel and a view of the meanings associated with urban spaces and places. It reflects the importance of travel writing for understanding the (literary) cityscape and its transformations and opens space for further research on the subject.

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the imperative of physical distancing has underscored the necessity for telemedicine solutions. Traditionally, telemedicine systems have operated synchronously, requiring scheduled appointments. This study introduces an innovative telemedicine system integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enable asynchronous communication between physicians and patients, eliminating the need for appointments and providing round-the-clock access from any location. The AI-Telemedicine system was developed utilizing Google Sheets and Google Forms. Patients can receive dietary recommendations from the AI acting as the physician and submit self-reports through the system. Physicians have access to patients’ submitted reports and can adjust AI settings to tailor recommendations accordingly. The AI-Telemedicine system for patients requiring daily dietary recommendations has been successfully developed, meeting all nine system requirements. System privacy and security are ensured through user account access controls within Google Sheets. This AI-Telemedicine system facilitates seamless communication between physicians and patients in situations requiring physical distancing, eliminating the need for appointments. Patients have round-the-clock access to the system, with AI serving as a physician surrogate whenever necessary. This system serves as a potential model for future telemedicine solutions.