A review of 20 years of takaful literature using a systematic method

PurposeThe study aims to summarize the 20 years of literature published in takaful between 2000 and 2019 and propose some key areas as the directions for future research.Design/methodology/approachThe present study utilizes the systematic method of reviewing the literature. The SCOPUS database has been accessed, and 96 articles have been accounted for the analysis. The articles are grouped in their exclusive themes, such as consumer behavior, financial and nonfinancial performance, takaful models, human resources and governance.FindingsTakaful research has widely covered marketing, finance, human resource, governance and stresses on its legal issues. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies have been employed. The research gaps have been classified based on the respective areas. Large share of current body of takaful literature consists of the studies related to the application of behavioural theories to examine the behavioural intention to take up takaful services.Originality/valueThe study enriches the literature of takaful by reviewing articles according to their respective themes, thereby contributing to the significant findings missing from existing literature surveys.

Modelling the efficiency of power system with reserve capacity from variable renewable sources of energy

The paper considers modeling the efficiency of power system with integration large share of variable renewable sources of energy with the account of climate conditions of Ukraine. The proposed methodology with its position between system planning and dispatch simulation contributes to the field of hybrid energy system models. The idea behind the method allows high spatial and temporal resolution as well as the inclusion of the technical details of the power system and its dispatch. The novelty of this method is the usage of a parametric approach is chosen to analyze different variable renewable sources of energy scenarios, precisely every possible its share and mix. This provides insights on the systematic effects of different resource mixes and may serve as a new approach to the analysis of future power system development. The additional novelty aspect allows the optimization of the design of the technical details of the power system with large variable renewable sources shares to have continuous improvement of its energy efficiency. The energy balance model generator is well suited for the analysis of large share of variable renewable sources integration in the power system. The design of technical details of the power system with large variable renewable sources shares was optimized with the energy balance model. The results of numerical modelling demonstrated that at 80% variable renewable sources of energy share, the overproduction is reduced to 20%, down from over 100 % without grid extensions. With it, the necessary wind and solar capacity decreases. Consequently, the possible achievable variable renewable sources of energy share is increased, assuming the same technical potential. According to the results, a Ukrainian grid would allow to increase the possible variable renewable sources of energy share from 50% to 75%.

Investigation of Distribution Transformers Vibrations in Terms of Core and Winding Condition Assessment

This work refers to the criterion values used to assess the state of the active part of the transformer based on the analysis of the effective value of the total vibration acceleration and the frequency spectrum. It was proved in the work that the criteria values should be differentiated for transformers of different rated power. Transformers with lower rated power are characterized by lower RMS values of vibration acceleration than units with higher rated power, which cannot remain without impact on the criteria values. Trend analysis of the total aRMS values may reveal increasing defects before the currently applicable criteria values are exceeded. In addition, the influence of the position of the sensor on the frequency spectrum of the obtained signals was analyzed. It was proved that the sensors should be mounted in the middle of the transformer tank, between its lower part and the cover. The dependence of RMS value of vibration acceleration on no-load losses was also determined for transformers of different types but the same rated power. This relationship will not have a large share in the total vibrations of the transformer, due to slight changes in the value of aRMS occurring for all analyzed units.

Value Added Tax Efficiency in the Western Balkan Countries

An important feature of the tax systems of the Western Balkan countries is the large share of consumption taxes in total tax revenue. Despite its relatively short existence, VAT in particular has proven to be an important fiscal tool, due to its many advantages. The aim of the article is to outline the main developments in VAT in these countries in the past two decades and to analyse its efficiency. The main result of the article is that the tax has good overall revenue performance in the Western Balkans, as measured with the C-efficiency ratio.

A Riemannian Newton trust-region method for fitting Gaussian mixture models

Gaussian Mixture Models are a powerful tool in Data Science and Statistics that are mainly used for clustering and density approximation. The task of estimating the model parameters is in practice often solved by the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm which has its benefits in its simplicity and low per-iteration costs. However, the EM converges slowly if there is a large share of hidden information or overlapping clusters. Recent advances in Manifold Optimization for Gaussian Mixture Models have gained increasing interest. We introduce an explicit formula for the Riemannian Hessian for Gaussian Mixture Models. On top, we propose a new Riemannian Newton Trust-Region method which outperforms current approaches both in terms of runtime and number of iterations. We apply our method on clustering problems and density approximation tasks. Our method is very powerful for data with a large share of hidden information compared to existing methods.

Industrialization and Democracy

I provide a new theory of the relationship between economic development and democracy. I argue that a large share of employment in manufacturing (i.e., industrialization) makes mass mobilization both more likely to occur and more costly to suppress. This increases the power of the masses relative to autocratic elites, making democracy more likely. Novel manufacturing employment data for 145 countries over 170 years (1845--2015) supports this hypothesis. First, all highly developed countries in the West and East Asia democratized when approximately 25% of their workforce was employed in manufacturing, and virtually no other country has ever reached this level without eventually becoming a well-functioning democracy. Second, industrialization is strongly correlated with democracy, even after accounting for two-way fixed effects and other economic determinants of democracy (e.g., income and inequality). Last, unlike with other economic determinants the effect occurs on both transitions and consolidations, and is equally large after WWII.

Addressing Sustainability within Public Procurement of Food: A Systematic Literature Review

Public procurement has been recognized as a tool to promote more sustainable production and consumption practices. As such, an increasing body of literature has become available in recent years focusing on the sustainable public procurement of food. This article reviews the literature on the sustainable public procurement of food with the aim to analyze how sustainability is framed. This is done by analyzing what aspects of sustainability are emphasized and what practices are identified as sustainable. A systematic literature review was conducted between the years 2000 and 2020, identifying 103 articles. Results from the literature review indicate that the focus has primarily been on studies to evaluate and explore policy and good practices for procuring sustainable foods. A dominant focus on specific foods types and origins, e.g., those locally sourced and organic foods, is highlighted by a large share of the literature to address all three sustainability pillars. We observed that most articles focus on all three pillars of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic), addressing different aspects and types of foods, although the focus varied depending upon geographic location. Despite many studies identifying opportunities and potential, few articles assess the sustainability or outcomes of procurement processes through quantitative or qualitative methods or how actors in the procurement process can improve procurement toward more sustainable foods. This indicates a need for further case studies and guidelines to measure the development, progress, and performance of public food procurement.

Working time flexibility in the EU countries

The study aims to identify the EU’s trends in the use of flexible forms of working time and to determine the specifics of individual EU countries. The study monitors the flexibility of working time based on the following indicators: persons employed part-time (as a percentage of the total employment); involuntary part-time employment as % of total part-time employment; the share of employed persons by the flexibility to decide on working time by a country; the share of employed persons who can easily take one or two days off at a short notice by working at home. The paper uses descriptive statistics, analysis of the development of time series using the growth rate, sigma convergence, and weighted sum approach. All analyzed indicators were taken into account to express one value, based on which it is possible to compare countries. Thus, the study expressed the overall benefit using the weighted sum method. The maximum value of the total benefit expressed using all the indicators among the EU countries was reached by the Netherlands. One of the reasons may be the short period of parental leave and the large share of women working part-time for a long time. The second reason is the large share of young people working part-time. On the contrary, Bulgaria, where women spend a relatively long time with their children after birth and then start full-time employment, ranked the last. This should be justified by the fact that flexible forms of work are mainly used by women and their prevalence is largely dependent on the length of maternity and parental leave. AcknowledgmentThis paper is created within the project funded by the Scientific Agency of Slovak Ministry of Education VEGA reg. no. 1/0689/20 “Digital economy and changes in the education system to reflect labour market demands”.

Health Policy in Asia

The book assesses the policy actions of select Asian governments (China, India, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand) to address critical health system functions from a policy design perspective. The findings show that all governments in the region have made tremendous strides in focussing their attention on the core issues and, especially, the interactions among them. However, there is still insufficient appreciation of the usefulness of public hospitals and their efficient management. Similarly, some governments have not made sufficient efforts to establish an effective regulatory framework which is especially vital in systems with a large share of private providers and payers. A well-run public hospital system and an effective framework for regulating private providers are essential tools to support the governance, financing, and payment reforms underway in the six health systems studied in this book.