Review of Intellectual Capital Components Research

The success of the organizations in a competitive business environment is depending on the intellectual capital, which is considered as strategic assets for sustainability of the organization. In the knowledge-based economy, modern and high tech organizations not only concentrate on innovation, services, marketing, research and development, instead pay particular attention to the organization intellectual capital. The aim of this paper is to investigate theoretically and empirically contributions in the subject of intellectual capital in an endeavor to recognize the components of intellectual capital. However, to achieve the objective of this paper a comprehensive related literature review was performed. The related literature showed that there are nine dimensions of intellectual capital that have been identified

A multi-country study on the impact of sex and age on oral features of COVID-19 infection in adolescents and young adults

Background: Oral diseases are features of COVID-19 infection. There is, however, little known about oral diseases associated with COVID-19 in adolescents and young adults (AYA). Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess oral lesions’ association with COVID-19 infection in AYA; and to identify if sex and age will modify these associations. Methodology: Data was collected for this cross-sectional study between August 2020 and January 2021 from 11-to-23 years old participants in 43-countries using an electronic validated questionnaire developed in five languages. Data collected included information on the dependent variables (the presence of oral conditions- gingival inflammation, dry mouth, change in taste and oral ulcers), independent variable (COVID-19 infection) and confounders (age, sex, history of medical problems and parents’ educational level). Multilevel binary logistic regression was used for analysis. Results: Complete data were available for 7164 AYA, with 7.5% reporting a history of COVID-19 infection. A significantly higher percentage of participants with a history of COVID-19 infection than those without COVID-19 infection reported having dry mouth (10.6% vs 7.3%, AOR = 1.31) and taste changes (11.1% vs 2.7%, AOR = 4.11). There was a significant effect modification in the association between COVID-19 infection and the presence of dry mouth and change in taste by age and sex (P = 0.02 and < 0.001). Conclusion: COVID-19 infection was associated with dry mouth and change in taste among AYA and the strength of this association differed by age and sex. These oral conditions may help serve as an index for suspicion of COVID-19 infection in AYA

Measuring the health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 188 countries : a baseline analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background In September, 2015, the UN General Assembly established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs specify 17 universal goals, 169 targets, and 230 indicators leading up to 2030. We provide an analysis of 33 health-related SDG indicators based on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015). Methods We applied statistical methods to systematically compiled data to estimate the performance of 33 health-related SDG indicators for 188 countries from 1990 to 2015. We rescaled each indicator on a scale from 0 (worst observed value between 1990 and 2015) to 100 (best observed). Indices representing all 33 health-related SDG indicators (health-related SDG index), health-related SDG indicators included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG index), and health-related indicators not included in the MDGs (non-MDG index) were computed as the geometric mean of the rescaled indicators by SDG target. We used spline regressions to examine the relations between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI, a summary measure based on average income per person, educational attainment, and total fertility rate) and each of the health-related SDG indicators and indices. Findings In 2015, the median health-related SDG index was 59.3 (95% uncertainty interval 56.8-61.8) and varied widely by country, ranging from 85.5 (84.2-86.5) in Iceland to 20.4 (15.4-24.9) in Central African Republic. SDI was a good predictor of the health-related SDG index (r(2) = 0.88) and the MDG index (r(2) = 0.2), whereas the non-MDG index had a weaker relation with SDI (r(2) = 0.79). Between 2000 and 2015, the health-related SDG index improved by a median of 7.9 (IQR 5.0-10.4), and gains on the MDG index (a median change of 10.0 [6.7-13.1]) exceeded that of the non-MDG index (a median change of 5.5 [2.1-8.9]). Since 2000, pronounced progress occurred for indicators such as met need with modern contraception, under-5 mortality, and neonatal mortality, as well as the indicator for universal health coverage tracer interventions. Moderate improvements were found for indicators such as HIV and tuberculosis incidence, minimal changes for hepatitis B incidence took place, and childhood overweight considerably worsened. Interpretation GBD provides an independent, comparable avenue for monitoring progress towards the health-related SDGs. Our analysis not only highlights the importance of income, education, and fertility as drivers of health improvement but also emphasises that investments in these areas alone will not be sufficient. Although considerable progress on the health-related MDG indicators has been made, these gains will need to be sustained and, in many cases, accelerated to achieve the ambitious SDG targets. The minimal improvement in or worsening of health-related indicators beyond the MDGs highlight the need for additional resources to effectively address the expanded scope of the health-related SDGs.Peer reviewe

Review of Important Brand Loyalty Influencing Factors: State of Art

Brand loyalty is no longer a new concept but the importance of brand loyalty could never be overstated especially in recent decades as market competitions become globally fierce. Hence, to correctly underderstand the behavior of their customers or rather the antecedents of brand loyalty could be beneficial to marketers or entrepreneurs to secure their market positions. Thus, an increasing nwnber of scholars have devoted to exploring the influencing factors of brand loyalty from various theoretical and industrial backgrormds. This study reviews the related academic studies on brand loyalty and particularly analyzes the influencing factors of Brand loyalty. It starts with introducing the evolution of brand loyalty research then defines brand and brand loyalty. Fwi:her, after revisiting the grollllded theories of brand loyalty research such as the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) a summary of the most frequently researched influencing factors is presented. It is hoped that the study could shed some light in facilitating researchers to further develop conceptual framework and conduct empirical research and also guiding practitioners in rationalizing market strategy

Review On Intellectual Capital And Its Components Towards Competitive Advantage In Universities

Nowadays, business organizations are undergoing in a complex and volatile environment facing big challenges caused from the rapid changes in the economic and political issues. Further, the traditional tangible capitals like cash, buildings, inventories, and etc. As effective weapons for organizational survival can no longer be counted on alone [1]. Since knowledge becomes vital in leading economy currently, the importance of the intangible assets or the so-called intellectual capital has emerged [2]. Until the period of 1990s, the Intellectual Capital management and reporting were widely practiced within industry as a response to the ever increasing investments in intangible assets or intellectual capital such as employees’ training, innovation, research and development, customer relationships or software, etc. [3] as well as a solution to the lack of existing accounting methods to provide sufficient information for managing these investments. Hence, it became necessary for organizations to define intellectual capital and learn how to turn it into a profit, or to strategically develop competitive permanent feature. And it becomes imperative for organizations to look at the intellectual wealth, skills and creative ideas inherent in human resources and non-exploitative and innovative so that they can invest in them to extract the highest value through development to achieve a competitive advantage in light of the difficult economic conditions [4]. Towards this end, the paper reviews the related literatures on intellectual capital, its components, its effects on competitive advantage. Figure 1 depicts the conceptual framework of the components of intellectural capital and its effects on competitive advantage. Finally, it narrowed down to focus on managing intellectual capital in universities. It is hoped that the review paper will raise the awareness of knowledge intensive organizations in better utilizing intellectual capital and ultimately achieving competitive advantage

Intellectual capital practices in universities

Intellectual capital is a concept that increases the researcher’s attention nowadays. The intellectual capital is one of the most important keys to growth and organizations development. Intellectual capital represents the intangible assets that have used for knowledge creation and performance promotion of universities. However, success at universities depends on their intellectual capital. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the practices working of the intellectual capital at universities. Education organizations especially universities were selected because it plays an important role in the development and growth of the knowledge-intensive sector. The paper concluded that only universities in developed countries are paying high attention to intellectual capital, while other countries their universities still in the development process of intellectual capital