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This article examines the role the Australian Trade Union Training Authority (TUTA) played in international education through the provision of trade union courses and exchanges. We consider how an investigation of trade union networks contributes to a richer understanding of international education linkages.

This paper is based on research conducted for an Australian Research Council (ARC)-funded project: Trade union training: reshaping the Australian industrial landscape (ARC LP180100500). This research involved a critical analysis of 60 semi-structured oral history interviews and textual archives, including the official records held by the National Archives of Australia and papers held by the Noel Butlin Archives, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and in private collections.

TUTA was established primarily as a national union training organisation, but from its inception, it also acted as a hub for the development of regional and international labour networks. The nature of TUTA’s work placed it at the intersection of international trade union and educational domains. Although there were some points of contact with formal international programs (e.g. Japan–Australia and Kellogg Foundations, the Colombo Plan and US Department of Labour exchanges schemes), the specific contribution of TUTA is overlooked in the educational exchange literature. The role of TUTA is revealed through institutional connections and individual experiences.

Further research is required to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of TUTA from the perspective of former participants in international TUTA course and current and former trade unionists in the Asia–Pacific.

This article builds new knowledge by examining the connections forged in the Asia–Pacific region at the intersection of trade union and educational networks, an area often overlooked in the literature on educational exchange.

This study aims to describe the design and synthesis of two novel azo and imine chromophores-based dyes derived from two different aldehydes with intramolecular colour matching that are pH sensitive.

The visible absorption wavelength (λ_max) was extended when azo chromophore was included in imine-based systems. The dyed patterns created sophisticated colour-changing paper packaging sensors with pH-sensitive chromophores using alum as a mediator or mordant. Due to the tight adhesive bonding, the dyes on paper’s cellulose fibres could not be removed by ordinary water even at extremely high or low pH, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy analysis. The dyed patterns demonstrated an evident, sensitive and fast colour-changing mechanism with varying pH, from pale yellow to red for Dye-I and from pale yellow to brown-violet for Dye-II.

The λ_max for colour changing was recorded from 400 to 490 nm for Dye-I, whereas from 400 to 520 for Dye-II. The freshness judgement of food was checked using actual experiments with cooked crab spoilage, where the cooked crab was incubated at 37 ^oC for 6 h to see the noticeable colour change from yellow to brown-violet with Dye-II. The colour-changing mechanism was studied with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra at different pH, and thin layer chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance and FTIR spectroscopy studied the desired structure formation of the dyes. Potential uses for smart packaging sensors include quickly detecting food freshness during transportation or right before consumption.

1. Two novel azo-imine dyes have been synthesized with a pH-responsive effect. 2. The pH-responsive mechanism was studied. 3. The study was supported by computational chemistry using density functional theory. 4. The obtained dyes were used to make pH-responsive sensors for seafood packaging to judge the freshness.

The rapid rise of Islamic crypto assets, underpinned by blockchain technology, has introduced a novel dimension to the Islamic financial landscape, raising questions about their potential as safe havens within emerging Islamic economies. However, the opportunities and challenges associated with this phenomenon remain insufficiently explored. In this context, this study aims to empirically investigate the extent to which blockchain technology can establish Islamic crypto assets as safe havens in equity markets within Islamic economies.

This study addresses the need for rigorous empirical analysis to understand the dynamics between Islamic crypto assets and stock markets in emerging Islamic economies, focusing on the transmission of volatility. While the evolving nature of the Islamic financial sector demands reliable data, the reliance on the most available data offers insights into the expected future trends in this emerging field. The research specifically focuses on three essential assets in the Islamic financial portfolio: OneGram Coin and X8XToken, both backed by gold and MRHB DeFi, an Islamic DeFi asset lacking gold backing. These crypto assets are compared with corresponding assets in seven stock markets of emerging Islamic economies. Using daily log returns of the Islamic crypto assets from various sources and seven Islamic stock indices. The data covers the period from December 27, 2021, to December 28, 2022, capturing the fluctuations in Islamic stocks and cryptocurrency markets during the post-COVID-19 era. This research uses advanced econometric techniques, including pairwise dynamic correlation and the DCC GARCH model.

The findings indicate that Islamic crypto assets exhibit distinct characteristics, with lower volatility and low correlations compared to their conventional counterparts in non-Islamic contexts. This outcome suggests that these Islamic crypto assets could potentially serve as safe havens within Islamic stock markets, offering valuable insights for various stakeholders, including investors, governments and policymakers.

The findings are based on a specific set of Islamic crypto assets and may vary with a different selection. Market dynamics can also influence the relationships observed. Nevertheless, the outcomes provide valuable insights for investors, policymakers and researchers interested in the intersection of Islamic finance, cryptocurrency and technology.

In essence, this research not only unveils the potential of Islamic crypto assets as stabilizing forces but also delineates a trajectory for subsequent research endeavours within the realm of emerging Islamic Fintech, elucidating the challenges, opportunities and benefits that lie therein. With a discerning eye on circumventing the pitfalls entrenched within conventional crypto finance, this study contributes to a heightened comprehension of the transformative role that Islamic crypto assets can assume, ultimately enriching the financial resilience of Islamic economies.

Despite the extent of working from home (WFH) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, research exploring its positive or negative effects is exceptionally scarce. Unlike the traditional positive view of WFH, the authors hypothesize that WFH during the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered work–life imbalance and work–family conflict (WFC) for employees. Furthermore, the authors suggest that work–life imbalance and WFC elicit burnout in employees.

Using a time-lagged design, the authors collected data in three waves during the peak of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to test the authors' hypotheses.

Overall, the authors found good support for the proposed hypotheses. WFH had a significant positive relationship with burnout. WFH was negatively related to work–life balance (WLB) and positively related to WFC. Both WLB and WFC mediated the effects of WFH on burnout.

This is one of the earliest studies to explore the harmful effects of involuntary WFH and identify the channels through which these effects are transmitted. The practical implications can help managers deal with the adverse effects of WFH during and after the COVID-19 crisis.

The authors' results significantly contribute to the research on WFH and burnout and present important implications for practice and future research.

This article focuses on the representations of natural hazards, disasters, gender roles and norms in Makoto Shinkai’s disaster-themed anime films Your Name (2016) and Weathering with You (2019).

This article commences with a literature review on disasters, disaster films, gender in disasters and gender in disaster films; then, this article thoroughly investigates the portrayal of disasters and gender in the two films, drawing data from their narratives and plots.

This article finds that the two films’ depictions of disasters and gender adhere to the traditional patterns observed in Hollywood and Japanese disaster films. The natural hazards and disasters in the two films reflect real-world disasters that occurred in Japan’s recent decades, especially the 3.11 Tohoku earthquake in 2011. Traditional gender figures and prevalent heterosexual expectations in Japanese culture and society deeply influence the two films’ portrayal of gender roles and norms.

Numerous academic works explored Hollywood disaster films, their representations of gender roles and norms in disaster themes. However, few focus on recent Japanese anime films such as Your Name and Weathering with You. This article aims to fill this gap.

Financial integration has played an essential role in achieving economic growth in the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). However, its effects on economic growth in the region in the long run have been underexamined. This paper examines these effects for the ASEAN member countries.

A fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) estimation is used to take into account two critical econometric issues in panel data analysis, including (1) cross-sectional dependence and (2) slope heterogeneity. The dynamic ordinary least squares estimation is also used for robustness analysis. The authors use the generalized least squares estimation to examine the effects in the short run.

This study’s empirical results confirm the important role of financial integration to economic growth in the ASEAN countries in the short term. However, the effects appear to disappear in the long term. The authors also find capital, labor, and human development positively contribute to economic growth in the region. International trade plays a significant role in supporting economic growth in the ASEAN in the short run. However, its effect seems to weaken in the long run.

The growth effects of financial integration in the ASEAN region in the long term have largely been neglected. As such, the authors examine these effects using updated data on financial integration. The authors extend this study’s analysis by considering foreign direct investment and financial depth as the alternative proxies for financial integration. Other estimation technique is also used as the robustness check.

Allocation of the marketing budget has become increasingly challenging due to the diverse channel exposure to customers. This study aims to enhance global marketing knowledge by introducing an ensemble attribution model to optimize marketing budget allocation for online marketing channels. As empirical research, this study demonstrates the supremacy of the ensemble model over standalone models.

The transactional data set for car insurance from an Indian insurance aggregator is used in this empirical study. The data set contains information from more than three million platform visitors. A robust ensemble model is created by combining results from two probabilistic models, namely, the Markov chain model and the Shapley value. These results are compared and validated with heuristic models. Also, the performances of online marketing channels and attribution models are evaluated based on the devices used (i.e. desktop vs mobile).

Channel importance charts for desktop and mobile devices are analyzed to understand the top contributing online marketing channels. Customer relationship management-emailers and Google cost per click a paid advertising is identified as the top two marketing channels for desktop and mobile channels. The research reveals that ensemble model accuracy is better than the standalone model, that is, the Markov chain model and the Shapley value.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current research is the first of its kind to introduce ensemble modeling for solving attribution problems in online marketing. A comparison with heuristic models using different devices (desktop and mobile) offers insights into the results with heuristic models.

The health and survival of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are of paramount concern to stakeholders. It is essential to understand the usage behaviors of exploitative and exploratory strategies. By combining the typical user experience with psychological mechanisms in MMOGs, this study is devoted to clarifying how technology affordance and digital perfectionistic intention influence reinforcement and variety-seeking orientations of MMOGs use.

This study adopted a sequential triangulation mixed-methods design to explore how diverse usage behaviors of reinforced and varied use in MMOGs are formed. After proposing the theoretical framework from MMOGs affordance, perfectionistic intentions, and diverse use, empirical evidence was initially collected from representative samples through a survey. Qualitative interviews from players in MMOGs and game industry practitioners are conducted to confirm the results, supplement understanding, and gather insights from diverse backgrounds. The quantitative and qualitative inferences are discussed to validate the research focus.

Findings from various perspectives suggest that perfectionistic intentions are critical antecedents of different usage behaviors influenced by affordances provided in MMOGs. Goal-driven affordance with reward and competition, interaction affordance, and identity affordance are key MMOGs affordances and could affect perfectionistic intentions differently. People with different perfectionistic intentions, which are the psychological outcome of MMOGs affordances, possess diverse usage behaviors.

This study is the first to consider diverse usage behaviors in virtual worlds such as MMOGs by combining lenses of perfectionistic intentions and technology affordance. Findings from mixed-methods analysis significantly enrich the research on online game usage behavior, offering valuable theoretical and practical implications for studying usage behaviors within the virtual world.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the mediating effect of friends and family as sources of perceived social support in the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms.

Survey data sample consisted of 733 university students from January to May 2023. Participants completed the UCLA loneliness scales, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSS) and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The SPSS programme with PROCESS macro (Model 6) was used to test the hypothesis regarding the mediation effect.

The bootstrap analysis found that friends as a source of social support mediated the relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms. Similarly, loneliness had a significant indirect effect on depressive symptoms through the mediation of family as a source of social support. Moreover, it was found that the relationships of friends and family as sources of social support mediated the association of the aforementioned variables.

This research advances our understanding of social support sources from friends and family amongst university students whilst providing suggestions for interventions tackling loneliness and depressive symptoms in a university setting.

This study aims to address the noted gap in comprehensive overviews detailing the developmental trajectory of Islamic finance (IF) as an interdisciplinary academic field.

The study introduces a unique approach using the combined methodologies of co-word analysis and main path analysis (MPA) by examining a broad collection of IF research articles.

The investigation identifies dominant themes and foundational works that have influenced the IF discipline. The data reveals prominent areas such as Shariah governance, financial resilience, ethical dimensions and customer-centric frameworks. The MPA offers detailed insights, narrating a journey from the foundational principles of IF to its current challenges and opportunities. This journey covers harmonizing religious beliefs with contemporary financial models, changes in regulatory landscapes and the continuous effort to align with broader socioeconomic aspirations. Emerging areas of interest include using new technologies in IF, standardizing global Islamic banking and assessing its socioeconomic effects on broader populations.

This study represents a pioneering effort to map out and deepen the understanding of the IF field, highlighting its dynamic evolution and suggesting potential avenues for future academic exploration.