International Impact Research Articles

Responding to the Initial Challenge of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Analysis of International Responses and Impact in School and Higher Education

This paper presents and analyses solutions where open education and open science were utilised to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education. The COVID-19 outbreak and associated lockdowns created huge challenges in school and higher education, demanding sudden responses which aimed to sustain pedagogical quality. Responses have varied from conservative to radically innovative. Universally, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted and shocked societies worldwide, and education systems were on the front line. The lockdowns largely stopped face-to-face and formal education in almost all countries, and in most cases, distance learning soon became the ‘new normal’. A central challenge concerned sustaining educational visions and ideals in such circumstances. To better understand the state of the art in the educational landscape, we collected case studies from 13 countries during the first year of the pandemic starting on 11 March 2020 (when the World Health Organization declared a pandemic). This paper presents summaries of the full country reports that were collected and describe lessons learned. Our overall aim was to identify good practices and recommendations from the collected case studies that can be taken forward in the future. We categorised the responses on the three generic educational levels (macro, meso and micro) and identified seven key aspects and trends that are valid for all or most countries: (1) formal education at a distance for first time; (2) similar approaches for formal education; (3) missing infrastructure and sharing open educational resources; (4) diverse teaching and learning methods and practices; (5) open education and access to open educational resources; (6) urgent need for professional development and training for teachers and (7) assessing and monitoring learning environments, teachers and students. Finally, we identified key recommendations on how open education and open science can benefit formal education in schools and universities in the future, namely, improved awareness of open educational practices, provision of ICT infrastructure, embracing and sustaining the practice of open access publications and OERs, capacity building for stakeholders and finally encouraging research and development in the area of open education and open science. We found significant evidence for the proposition that open education and open science can support both traditional face-to-face and distance learning.

Information spillovers of US monetary policy

We examine the international impact of the information content in US monetary policy. When the Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy, it reveals not only a tightened monetary stance, but also optimism about the economy, raising global output and asset prices as a result. Using a panel dataset of fifty-eight countries over the period 1994–2020, we disentangle “information shocks” from pure monetary shocks and show that (i) while tightening shocks are contractionary for the global economy, the information inherent in a tightening announcement can have expansionary effects; (ii) monetary and information shocks tend to offset each other, softening the net spillovers to the world economy; and (iii) the information inherent in monetary easing lowers output and asset prices. US monetary announcements can thus reveal optimism or pessimism with consequences for global economic activity.

Enterprise Internationalization, Trademark Internationalization and Enterprise Value ---Based on Empirical Evidence of Listed Companies in Western China

Trademark internationalization is an important part of enterprise internationalization, and the degree of enterprise internationalization will inevitably affect the level of trademark internationalization. The practice shows that the degree of enterprise internationalization has different effects on the level of trademark internationalization and enterprise value. This article takes the Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed enterprises in western China from 2010 to 2019 as the research object, discusses and empirically tests the impact of trademark internationalization on enterprise value, and analyzes the moderating effect of the degree of enterprise internationalization on the relationship between the two. The study found that the level of trademark internationalization has a positive impact on enterprise value, but the degree of enterprise internationalization will have a negative impact on the relationship between the level of trademark internationalization and enterprise value. Compared with non-high-tech enterprises, the degree of internationalization of high-tech enterprises has a more significant negative regulatory effect on the level of trademark internationalization and enterprise value.

The global prevalence and ethnic heterogeneity of primary ciliary dyskinesia gene variants: a genetic database analysis

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a motile ciliopathy characterised by otosinopulmonary infections. Inheritance is commonly autosomal recessive, with extensive locus and allelic heterogeneity. The prevalence is uncertain. Most genetic studies have been done in North America or Europe. The aim of the study was to estimate the worldwide prevalence and ethnic heterogeneity of PCD. We calculated the allele frequency of disease-causing variants in 29 PCD genes associated with autosomal recessive inheritance in 182 681 unique individuals to estimate the global prevalence of PCD in seven ethnicities (African or African American, Latino, Ashkenazi Jewish, Finnish, non-Finnish European, east Asian, and south Asian). We began by aggregating variants that had been interpreted by Invitae, San Francisco, CA, USA, a genetics laboratory with PCD expertise. We then determined the allele frequency of each variant (pathogenic, likely pathogenic, or variant of uncertain significance [VUS]) in the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD), a publicly available next-generation sequencing database that aggregates exome and genome sequencing information from a wide variety of large-scale projects and stratifies allele counts by ethnicity. Using the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium equation, we were able to calculate a lower-end prevalence of PCD for each ethnicity by including only pathogenic and likely pathogenic variants; and upper-end prevalence by also including VUS. This approach was similar to previous work on Li-Fraumeni (TP53 variants) prevalence. We were not diagnosing PCD, but rather estimating prevalence based on known variants. The overall minimum global prevalence of PCD is calculated to be at least one in 7554 individuals, although this is likely to be an underestimate because some variants currently classified as VUS might be disease-causing and some pathogenic variants might not be detected by our methods. In the overall cohort, Invitae data could be included for variants without gnomAD data for a primary ethnicity. When using only gnomAD allele frequencies to calculate prevalence in individual ethnicities, the estimated prevalence of PCD was lower in each ethnicity compared with the overall cohort. This is because the overall cohort includes additional data from the Invitae database such as copy number variants and other variants not present in gnomAD. With gnomAD we found the expected PCD frequency to be higher in individuals of African ancestry than in most other populations (excluding VUS: 1 in 9906 in African or African American vs 1 in 10 388 in non-Finnish European vs 1 in 14 606 in east Asian vs 1 in 16 309 in Latino; including VUS: 1 in 106 in African or African American vs 1 in 178 in non-Finnish European vs 1 in 196 in Latino vs 1 in 188 in east Asian). In addition, we found that the top 5 genes most commonly implicated in PCD differed across ethnic ancestries and contrasted commonly published findings. PCD appears to be more common than has been recognised, particularly in individuals of African ancestry. We identified gene distributions that differ from those in previous European and North American studies. These results could have an international impact on case identification. Our analytic approach can be expanded as more PCD loci are identified, and could be adapted to study the prevalence of other inherited diseases. None.

The Impact of International Labor Migration on Business Activities

Labor migration has gained momentum and has become an intensive and difficult process to manage. The problem of emigration is evidenced by the particularly high flows of people leaving to work and live abroad (Akerman, 2007). As migration processes intensify, there are risks of an economic, socio-cultural and political-managerial nature. Population migration takes place in all countries of the world, but the extent of population migration and the impact on the country's economy and business vary. The work summarizes the theories and concepts of international labor migration, explains the causes of international labor migration and the positive and negative consequences for business. Two countries were selected to assess international labor migration impact on businesses activities. Lithuania was the first choice because its economic and political and institutional and technological was growing from time to time. Egypt was the second choice because it was suffereing after the two revolutions and its indicators had negatively affected except technological sector .The business environment of selected countries were examined. The business environment of selected countries was also examined, and the impact of international labor migration on the activities of companies was determined (Böcker, 2019).

The impact of internationalisation on product innovation in emerging market firms

The impact of internationalisation on product innovation in emerging market firms

The impact of internationalisation on product innovation in emerging market firms

This article is based on a dataset compiled by the World Bank. This publicly accessible dataset contains information about business management which was collected from 212 EMFs that were located in ten different markets across Central, Eastern Europe and Asia. In order to measure the impact of internationalisation on product innovation in these EMFs, this article utilises the resource-based view (RBV). Through data analysis a consistent pattern showing the positive impact of the strategies adopted by internationalising EMFs to enhance their product innovations emerged. This uniform pattern was common in all EMFs. Most important, the trend showed that their product innovations were attributable to several factors that included; international physical resources, international marketing capabilities, managerial international experience, managerial perception of industry internationalisation, and international outsourcing. Thus, this article offers fine insights detailing the distinctive business manoeuvres internationalising EMFs initiate to drive product innovation. Insights from this research advance the resource-based perspective in a new way. Particularly, the new knowledge describes distinctive resource-seeking behaviours EMFs exhibit in emerging market thereby contributing to the literature on firm internationalisation and innovation.

Internationalization and Quality Assurance in Higher Education

Internationalization is an inevitable phenomenon among all contemporary higher education institutions (HEIs) in a globalizing world. It is the driving force for development and progress. In course of the last 30 years, it became an inevitable element of HE management. However, it carries along a number of risks, pitfalls, and organizational challenges. To hedge those, quality assurance (QA) is called to the stage. HEIs therefore need not only to search for chances but also to increase the advancement of methods to safeguard the quality of education and research. It is for this reason that a discussion on the mutual evolution and impact of internationalization and QA is required, and this is the aim of this article to combine the issues dialectically. There are tools and institutions within the internationally and nationally developed QA concepts that have the potential and aim to secure the benefits of internationalization.

Preservação de microrganismos ex situ como suporte para a ciência e a bioeconomia no Brasil

Abstract One of the texts in the “Biodiversity in the State of São Paulo” series, within the FAPESP-Biota Program, was dedicated to the Infrastructure for Biodiversity Conservation, with a focus on Biological Collections and Conservation Units. From the early 1960s, when FAPESP was established, to the present day, financial resources have been invested in the preservation of the biodiversity of the national genetic heritage, besides other fields. History of years of advances in scientific knowledge was built, which can be portrayed through the projects that resulted in high-quality data of national and international impact. Microbiological collections are centers that generate technology and specialized human resources, and act (among other things) as living repositories preserving reference material and as witnesses to the history of microbial biodiversity because they preserve what may no longer exist. They have enormous potential to promote the global bioeconomy and address problems that have resulted from the misuse of natural resources. This reading brings everyone the history, advances, and future perspectives of culture collections, within the efforts of 60-year scientific activities in Brazil.

МІЖНАРОДНІ ЕКОНОМІЧНІ ВІДНОСИНИ ЯК ГЛОБАЛІЗОВАНА СИСТЕМА

Based on a critical analysis of the latest Ukrainian and foreign scientific sources determined the nature and content of IER as a globalized system, identified factors, subjects of managerial influence, mechanisms and tools for regulating IER. The using a systematic approach made it possible to take into account the impact of internationalization, globalization and integration on the formation of a modern system of IER. It was also found that IER are developing under the influence of such internal factors as the intensive development of world trade, foreign direct investment movement, which contribute to the fragmentation of global value chains, deepen specialization and increase competition. Under such conditions, the requirements for the level of regulation of relations between active participants in IER increase. This, in turn, requires to the identification of economic and political interests and motives for management decisions by the main actors in IER, which is possible only on the basis of a systematic view of the structural structure of this social phenomenon. It is proved that the formation of current trends in IER is significantly influenced not only by globalized firms, but also leading countries and international organizations, which shows the unconvincing conclusions of domestic experts on the declining role of national governments as influential economic actors. Leaders of developed countries, as well as the owners of globalized companies, successfully using modern information and communication technologies, international organizations and the system of artificial ratings, make decisions in their favor, carry out global governance in the interests of the «golden billion». Despite the spread of openness and transparency in trade and financial and economic transactions, influential actors in international relations prefer not so much economic as political influence. The scientific novelty and practical value of this research lies in the substantiation of the listed scientific propositions and generalizations. According to its results, the prospects of further scientific research in this area are outlined, which are related to development the effective legal framework for regulating international economic relations in the face of current threats and challenges facing the world community.

Union of the Romanian Principalities and the Collective Guarantee of the European Powers

This study reveals a very specific issue in the field of the international relations history. As a matter of fact, the Romanian State՚s emergency presupposed an international regime exposed through the joint guarantee of the European Great Powers, as signing parts of the Peace Treaty of Paris, from the 30s March 1856. The readings of that Treaty and of the many other papers proved the fact that the Guaranteeing Powers were the six European Great Powers, as France, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and Sardaigne. The Ottoman Empire, as suzeraine Court on the Romanian Principalities Moldavia and Wallachia, as well on Serbia, it was a guaranteed, and not a guaranteeing part. These revealings permitted some pointed understandings of the both international impact of the Romanian international acts, as, for example, the Union of the Principalities in 1859, and significations of the diplomatic European deliberations, as the Great Powers Concert on the Romanian Question.

The international impact of Manfred Max-Neef's scholarship: a bibliometric approach

The international impact of Manfred Max-Neef's scholarship: a bibliometric approach

Metric indicators for the evaluation of graduate programs in Brazil: from Qualis to multi-criteria

Brazilian scientific production has been mostly developed (90%) by Brazilian universities, mainly graduate programs, which must be assessed and ranked by the Brazilian government for their maintenance. The Qualis system is used for this classification by valuing the scientific production of graduate programs, stratifying journals and assigning grades. Several Brazilian researchers affirm that the Qualis system is inaccurate and subjective because it is carried out by a group of researchers. This work aimed to propose methods to evaluate Brazilian scientific production in order to improve the assessment of graduate programs through multi-criteria methods in addition to Qualis. The application of different metrics presented results significantly different from Qualis, including the over valuation of journals with a low international impact factor. The proposed metrics considered: (i) web of science impact factor of the journals; (ii) Citations from articles; (iii) Citations of citations, i.e., a new metric; and (iv) H-Index for researchers. It was proposed the multi-criteria method, composed of the mentioned criteria, in addition to Qualis. For the sample of researchers, it was demonstrated that multi-criteria methods can assess scientific production more accurately. Therefore, they are more adequate to assess the Brazilian graduate programs, considering several internationally accepted criteria.

The international impact of Manfred Max-Neef's scholarship: a bibliometric approach

The international impact of Manfred Max-Neef's scholarship: a bibliometric approach

Dossier: Updates on Disability and Dentistry

Universitas Odontologica’s volume 40 of 2021 includes 17 articles in the Health Care Management and Professional Issues, Clinical Practice, and Public Health and Oral Epidemiology sections, as well as the thematic dossier Updates in Disability and Dentistry. Topics cover sterilization, operative and multidisciplinary management, oral anatomy, diagnostics, oral pathology, oral medicine, oral epidemiology, oral health and quality of life, dental anthropology, and disability. Countries of origin are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia. With the consolidation of the publication entirely in English language and a rolling-volume frequency the journal aspires to increase its international visibility and impact. In 2022, volume 41 of Universitas Odontologica will be devoted to celebrating its 40th anniversary of foundation.

Environmental policy narratives and urban green infrastructure: Reflections from five major cities in South Africa and the UK

In the context of large and growing urban populations, there is a pressing need to understand how the urban environment can be sustainably planned, developed and maintained for greatest benefit to people and nature. The use of ‘green infrastructure’, as a framing approach for integrating urban green space into urban decision-making claims significant international impact. This paper describes key urban environmental policy narratives of five different urban areas (Cape Town, Durban (eThekwini) and Johannesburg in South Africa and Birmingham and London in the UK) reflecting on the way that they have brought green infrastructure concepts into their decision-making. This multi-method study includes analysis of academic papers, technical reports and policy documents and semi-structured interviews with academics, practitioners (planners, engineers, environmental consultants), policy-makers and local community actors. This work has highlighted significant differences in the explicit use of urban green infrastructure as a framing within environmental policy, shaped by the mix of biophysical, social and economic factors that dominate the policy priorities of each city. It adds to a growing evidence base from research and practice aimed at supporting effective urban environmental policymaking.

The Principle of Constitutional Identity and Individual Rights: In Search of the Golden Ratio

The phenomenon of the constitutional identity of the Russian state in the context of conventional and constitutional conflicts is currently acquiring a special meaning. The need to protect state sovereignty, upholding the traditional model of relations between the individual, society and the state are the urgent tasks facing the Russian Federation being the main focus of the constitutional reform of 2020. In this context, the purpose of the study was the legal analysis of the constitutional identity of the Russian state as a frontier of compromise between the European and national systems of protection of individual rights and freedoms. Disregard for the constitutional identity of the state may lead to its "erosion" and the adverse impact of internationalisation on the foundations of the constitutional order. Guided by the principle of constitutional identity, a state can arrive at the best and legitimate solution in a particular case, which would not contradict national law, but at the same time would not ignore the norms of international treaties. The application of both general scientific and special methods of cognition, the formal-legal method and the method of legal modelling, made it possible to see in the constitutional identity not only the boundary of compromises in Russia's relations with inter-state bodies, but also the distinctiveness of constitutional processes. The conducted analysis of the domestic legal acts led to the conclusion that the principle of constitutional identity is an inviolable foundation of the constitutional state and its model of ensuring the individual rights and freedoms in the traditional system of values. The indicators and trends of crime for the period from 1991 to 2020 are given.

한국전쟁의 발발과 독일 개신교회(EKD)의 재무장 논쟁

First of all, this study raises the question, “What roles of the church for peace in the face of a national security crisis and rapidly changing political situation?” So, this study examines how the foreign policy of West Germany has changed in response to the international impact of the outbreak of the Korean War and the threat of war within the Cold War system. It also traces how the West German rearmament policy promoted by West German Chancellor Adenauer was accepted by West German society and German Protestants. When the Korean War broke out, Germans feared that a new war would break out in Germany; for this reason, West German Chancellor Adenauer promoted the rearmament of West Germany. Opinion in West Germany on the rearmament policy was divided. Even within the German Evangelical Church, a debate arose over West Germany's rearmament. Martin Niemoller and his group strongly opposed Adenauer's rearmament policy. Another group, however, argued that peace was what West Germany would rearm and contribute to European security. This study examines what the church has actual done and could have done for peace within these German church controversies.

From academic writing to academics writing: Transitioning towards literacies for research productivity

This article examines how international shifts in research writing, including performance policies and competitive research evaluation regimes, are creating a new set of expectations upon academics in Indonesia. Utilising a social practice approach to literacy, and with a cross-disciplinary sample of twenty-two academics at both private and public universities, we explore how early-career academics in Indonesia transition to research productivity. We investigate the tools and resources academics draw upon, and how academic success, prestige, and internationalism are conceptualised. We note that academics must amalgamate new literacy practices to contend with multiple and conflicting demands on time, abilities, allegiances, the double-bind of local versus international research impact, as well as inequalities of experience constituting peripheries within an already existing periphery.

Research on Aging: The International View From the Editors’ Desks

We review the scope, content, and focus of the peer-reviewed journal, Research on Aging (SAGE), publishing its 422nd volume this year. We will discuss how scholarship produced from researchers around the globe has changed over the years. Data on submissions, acceptance rates, and the important role of an international editorial board will be presented. The review process will be described, along with suggestions on how to increase chances of success when submitting original research. Although Research on Aging is sometimes considered to focus primarily on social gerontology, the scope in recent years has widened considerably, with manuscripts in aging studies published from such fields as economics, psychology, demography, public health, and public policy, as well as from sociology, and social work, among others. One of several special issues forthcoming in the journal will be described to demonstrate the possibilities for international impact.