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The purpose of this paper is to provide a consistent and systematic integration framework of sustainable development (SD) in a civil engineering (CE) curriculum, given the connection between the two. Curriculum integration is a challenging project and requires the development of certain protocols to ensure success.

This paper thus proposes a framework for the systematic integration of SD through the lenses of life cycle approach and associated tools to attain effective curriculum integration. The proposed framework suggests the following five steps: mapping the curriculum, setting learning targets, developing an action plan for the assessed program, implementing the action plan and assessing the final performance.

This framework was applied to the CE curriculum at Sherbrooke University. To assess its success, a student satisfaction survey was conducted, and teachers’ feedback was obtained; the results showed 85 per cent positive responses. The authors show how this study allowed the CE curriculum to be properly updated and brought in line with today’s engineering profession requirements with regard to SD.

The integration focuses on the application of life cycle approaches and tools such as environmental life cycle assessment and life cycle costing on CE content. Additionally, the presented approach can be easily adapted to other engineering curriculums and, to a certain extent, to other non-engineering curriculums.

This paper investigates the relative importance of local macroeconomic and global factors in the explanation of twelve MENA (Middle East and North Africa) stock market returns across the different quantiles in order to determine their degree of international financial integration.

The authors use both ordinary least squares and quantile regressions from January 2007 to January 2018. Quantile regression permits to know how the effects of explanatory variables vary across the different states of the market.

The results of this paper indicate that the impact of local macroeconomic and global factors differs across the quantiles and markets. Generally, there are wide ranges in degree of international integration and most of MENA stock markets appear to be weakly integrated. This reveals that the portfolio diversification within the stock markets in this region is still beneficial.

This paper is original for two reasons. First, it emphasizes, over a fairly long period, the impact of a large number of macroeconomic and global variables on the MENA stock market returns. Second, it examines if the relative effects of these factors on MENA stock returns vary or not across the market states and MENA countries.

This study aims to empirically examine the impact of perceived risks, optimism and financial literacy on trust and the perceived value of cryptocurrencies. It will also examine the impact of trust on the perceived value of cryptocurrencies.

A quantitative approach is followed. A questionnaire was designed to collect data from 308 respondents in Jordan. The Structural Equation Modeling – Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) method was used to evaluate the research model and test hypotheses.

The results of PLS algorithm analysis showed that perceived risks negatively impact the optimism and trust in cryptocurrencies. This study revealed that while financial literacy minimizes the perceived risks, it serves to enhance optimism and improve the perception of the value of cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, the findings of this study show that optimism plays a significant role in trust and perceived value.

This study provides new insights into the literature on cryptocurrencies adoption, blockchain theory, the theory of trust in financial systems, the role of the optimism factor and the perception of the value of cryptocurrencies. It also provides important practical implications for different stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of users' intention to continue to invest in cryptocurrencies. The paper also aims to examine the impact of hedonic motivation and the legal environment on perceived value in cryptocurrencies.

A questionnaire was designed to obtain data from 258 respondents in UAE. The Structural Equation Modeling – Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) was used to evaluate the research model and test the hypotheses.

The results of smart PLS path analysis showed that perceived value, hedonic motivation, gambling attitude, and price volatility were significant determinants of the continued intention to invest in cryptocurrency. This study also revealed that hedonic motivation enhances perceived value and improves the perception of cryptocurrencies value from user's perspective.

This study provides new insights into the literature on cryptocurrencies adoption, and delivers advanced understanding about the determinants of user's intention to continue investing in cryptocurrencies. In addition, the study provides important practical implications for cryptocurrencies companies to promote this financial technology to users by enhancing the knowledge of policy makers about how investors think and get motivated towards a continued investment of cryptocurrencies.

The goals of this paper are to determine the effectiveness of product sampling in terms of usage, to draw a consumer profile who is reactive to free samples and to determine product characteristics that would lead to free samples usage.

An experiment and a questionnaire inquiry were conducted. An outlet database was also used. Perfume, skin care and make‐up samples were given away to 500 women. In order to test the hypotheses logit models were employed.

Launching product sampling campaigns is quite effective as free samples usage appears to be high (72 per cent). Managers should give away samples of new products involving important advertising budgets. They also should offer samples of product types with a high‐penetration rate. In addition, it is better to sample well‐known brands rather than unknown ones. Moreover, the authors recommend targeting family brand users when offering free samples. Also, it is not profitable to target consumers with low‐annual spending within the product category. Finally, the authors suggest giving away samples to non‐working housewives.

This is the first paper to examine the determinants of free samples usage. Moreover, the study considers three methods of data collection. Finally, it has interesting practical and theoretical implications.

The purpose of this paper is to address the need for new approaches in locating items that closely match user preference criteria due to the rise in data volume of knowledge bases resulting from Open Data initiatives. Specifically, the paper focuses on evaluating SPARQL qualitative preference queries over user preferences in SPARQL.

The paper outlines a novel approach for handling SPARQL preference queries by representing preferences through symbolic weights using the possibilistic logic (PL) framework. This approach allows for the management of symbolic weights without relying on numerical values, using a partial ordering system instead. The paper compares this approach with numerous other approaches, including those based on skylines, fuzzy sets and conditional preference networks.

The paper highlights the advantages of the proposed approach, which enables the representation of preference criteria through symbolic weights and qualitative considerations. This approach offers a more intuitive way to convey preferences and manage rankings.

The paper demonstrates the usefulness and originality of the proposed SPARQL language in the PL framework. The approach extends SPARQL by incorporating symbolic weights and qualitative preferences.

The purpose of this paper is to reduce the inrush current and dip in voltage for energy‐ saving purposes in relation to residential air‐conditioning systems.

The paper focuses on the experimental harmonic investigation of a window‐type residential AC unit line current under time‐based soft‐starting control strategy. The control strategy assumes that only source voltage and current measurements are available. The soft‐starter is based on power electronic devices controlled through a firing signal generated by a programmed microcontroller during the first 500 ms.

The harmonic content shows the effect of the soft‐starter in exciting high‐frequency components of the line current. Harmonics investigations show that the high frequencies – even or odd multiples – of the fundamental line frequency are all excited by the soft‐starter approach. Some of these frequencies may harm the life cycle of the air‐conditioner.

The real data harmonic analysis shows that the adopted approach excites the entire frequency spectrum of the signal. A better monitoring of the harmonics is required. A closed loop adaptive soft‐starting control may perform much better than a time‐based soft‐starting strategy.

The paper assesses the power quality related to time‐based soft‐starting strategy of a residential air‐conditioning system to reduce the inrush current and the dip in voltage, both with a serious effect on energy savings, especially when the AC load is around 65 per cent of the total power demand load.

For the last two decades economics literature and debates have increasingly referred to institutions as the answers to the long-lasting queries regarding how stock market performance rises and what policies can be implement to encourage best outcomes in terms of stock market performances in Malaysia so that the analysis of the institutional basis under which any stock market functions has now converted an essential issue of investigation. This study attempts to capture the relationship between stock market movements and institutional quality (IQ) using autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach, over 33 years during the period of 1984–2016. The finding suggests that IQ positively and significantly affects stock market performance. Moreover, it is also showing that there is, in fact, a causal relationship between institutions and stock market performance. The findings are robust to changes in specification and a host of transparency measures.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the sectoral variety and common patterns of innovation in the wine industry. It intends to explore the nature, extent and sources of variety of innovation in the Canadian wineries.

The data employed come from a firm‐level survey addressed to 146 wine establishments in Canada. Results were analysed using factor analysis and non‐parametric statistical analysis.

The results reveal wineries tend to introduce many innovation activities which are internalised or externalised, draw on a variety of different sources of information, with a clear distinction between market sources, government sources (laboratories, research centres) and educational establishments, and introduced different types of innovation, including product and process but also organisational innovation.

The results suggest individual wineries innovate differently, but within a limited number of fairly consistent modes.

There is presently no published research investigating the different modes of innovation with regards to the wine industry and the case of Canada can provide valuable insights to understand how innovation is developed and sustained in cool climate regions.

The aim of the study is to review the extant literature on International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) adoption in emerging economies (EEs) and low-income countries (LICs) (“what do we know?”), and to propose an agenda for future research (“what do we need to know?”).

An analytical framework that builds on diffusion theory is developed. The authors follow the “PRISMA Flow Diagram” to reduce a total of 427 articles from four databases to a final sample of 41 articles. These studies are examined, aided by the analytical framework.

The authors find that IPSASs are a relevant issue for EEs/LICs. Overall, existing research is often explorative. The authors discover that the majority of articles rely on secondary data collection. While two-thirds of the studies perform a content analysis of pre-existing material, about one-fifth of the articles each collect primary data through means of interviews and questionnaires. The findings offer a holistic understanding of where and at what stages IPSAS reforms stand in EEs/LICs, and what factors influence the progression of reforms to the next stage of diffusion.

The authors outline a number of avenues for further research after discussing the dominating trends and structuring the literature based on our analytical framework. These stem from looking at the blank spots and an identified need to contextualise IPSASs adoption in EEs/LICs.