Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of human capital (HC), intellectual property rights (IPRs) and research and development (R&D) expenditures on total factor productivity (TFP), which leads to economic growth. Design/methodology/approach The panel data technique is used on a sample of 16 countries categorized into two groups, namely Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and, in order to make a comparison for the time period of 2007–2015, the researchers used a fixed effect model as an estimation method for regression. Findings The results indicate that HC, IPRs and R&D expenditures appear to be statistically significant and are strong factors in determining changes in TFP and exhibit positive results in all sample sets. Moreover, IPRs alone do not accelerate growth in an economy, especially taking the case of emerging nations. Originality/value Considering the importance of CEE and BRIC countries, and inadequate research on these regions with respect to current study’s variables and techniques, the present research provides valuable insights about the importance of HC, IPR and R&D activities and their impact on TFP, which leads to economic growth. IPRs create a fertile environment for R&D activities, knowledge creation and economic development. Distinct nations can attain better economic status via HC, R&D activities, innovation, trade and FDI, although the relative significance of these channels is likely to differ across countries depending on their developmental levels.

Based on the internationalization of higher education in the current global highly competitive education market, the current study aims to explore the factors affecting students in the selection of the country to continue their higher education. Following the mixed-method approach, the researchers collected data from international students studying in Germany and the United Kingdom (UK). The qualitative phase identified six themes: academic, social, personal, financial, career, and marketing as the highly influential elements in students’ choice to study abroad. Empirical analyses indicate that students in both countries consider academic reputation as a dominant theme in the selection of country for HEI. However, noteworthy differences were identified in the subsequent themes. Moreover, international students in Germany were found more satisfied with their choice of the country as compared to the students in the UK. This study provides valuable insights to the academic policymakers in the host and home countries concerning factors that pull and push students to study abroad. It also proposes recommendations to counter the brain drain element.

<p class="0abstract">A Genetic algorithm is a search algorithm depends on the methodology of natural selection and natural genetics. A Mobile Ad hoc network (MANET) is a type of wireless nodes (Devices) which are free to move anywhere in the network without any constraints. The nodes which are in range can communicate each other through radio waves and those who are not in range use any routing algorithm for communication. In this review paper, we focus on the problems of MANET that has been solved by applying GA for it and highlights the characteristic and challenges of MANET in the literature. More specifically, we present the summary of review papers and basic solutions that use and in the last, we present some future direction. Consequently, we concluded that modification in Fitness function (Evaluation function) according to the problem is the base of Genetic algorithm and variation in algorithm parameters can give solutions in a reasonable time.</p>