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This research aims to explore the research data ethics governance framework and collaborative network to optimize research data ethics governance practices, to balance the relationship between data development and utilization, open sharing, data security and to reduce the ethical risks that may arise from data sharing and utilization.

This study explores the framework and collaborative network of research data ethics policies by using the UK as an example. 78 policies from the UK government, university, research institution, funding agency, publisher, database, library and third-party organization are obtained. Adopting grounded theory (GT) and social network analysis (SNA), Nvivo12 is used to analyze these samples and summarize the research data ethics governance framework. Ucinet and Netdraw are used to reveal collaborative networks in policy.

Results indicate that the framework covers governance context, subject and measure. The content of governance context contains context description and data ethics issues analysis. Governance subject consists of defining subjects and facilitating their collaboration. Governance measure includes governance guidance and ethics governance initiatives in the data lifecycle. The collaborative network indicates that research institution plays a central role in ethics governance. The core of the governance content are ethics governance initiatives, governance guidance and governance context description.

This research provides new insights for policy analysis by combining GT and SNA methods. Research data ethics and its governance are conceptualized to complete data governance and research ethics theory.

A research data ethics governance framework and collaborative network are revealed, and actionable guidance for addressing essential aspects of research data ethics and multiple subjects to confer their functions in collaborative governance is provided.

This study analyzes policy text using qualitative and quantitative methods, ensuring fine-grained content profiling and improving policy research. A typical research data ethics governance framework is revealed. Various stakeholders' roles and priorities in collaborative governance are explored. These contribute to improving governance policies and governance levels in both theory and practice.

This study aims to form composite solid lubricant coatings on the surface of bearing steel, which can significantly improve the tribological properties of thrust cylindrical roller bearings (TCRBs). Phosphating films possess microscopic porosity that typically needs to be sealed with oil, grease or wax. Due to its unique crystal structure, the phosphating film itself also exhibits a certain degree of lubricity. In this study, solid lubricants are used to fill the pores of the phosphating film. By combining the phosphating film with solid lubricants, lubrication and wear reduction can be achieved.

In this study, the surfaces of the shaft washer (WS) and seat washer (GS) were treated with zinc-phosphating. Subsequently, a solid lubricant solution (polytetrafluoroethylene [PTFE], MoS₂ and graphite) was sprayed onto the phosphated samples at concentrations of 1 , 2  and 3 g/L. The porous and adsorptive nature of the phosphating film was used to embed the solid lubricant particles into the film, thus forming a composite lubrication layer containing solid lubricants on the surface of the bearing steel.

The addition of solid lubricant materials has shown significant potential in reducing wear losses compared with phosphated samples without such additives. Increasing the amount of solid lubricant added can facilitate the formation of a transfer film, which further enhances the protective properties. However, it is important to note that excessive amounts of solid lubricant material can contribute to seizure, leading to increased wear losses of the cage and a higher average coefficient of friction (ACOF).By spraying a PTFE solution with a concentration of 2 g/L, the lowest ACOF and cage wear loss were achieved, resulting in reductions of 60.5% for the ACOF and 89.4% for the cage wear loss. Similarly, when spraying a graphite solution with a concentration of 3 g/L, the lowest wear losses for GS and WS were observed, with reductions of 51.7% for GS wear loss and 38.9% for WS wear loss.

The combination of the phosphating film and solid lubricants aims to achieve lubrication and wear reduction, providing a new approach to wear-resistant technology for TCRBs.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2023-0231/

The current study aims to examine the impact of two black swan events on the performance of six stock markets in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies (Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia). The two selected black swan events are the US Mortgage and credit crisis (Global Financial Crisis of 2008) and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The performance of all the six stock markets are represented by their return and price volatility behavior, which has been measured by applying ARCH/GARCH model. The comparative analysis is done by employing mean difference models. The data is collected from Bloomberg on a daily frequency.

The response of two black swan events on the GCC stock markets has been heterogenous in nature. During the financial crisis, the impact was heavily felt on most of the stock markets in the GCC countries. It is revealed that the financial crisis had a negative significant impact on four of the six countries. Whereas during the COVID-19 crisis, it is revealed that there is no significant impact on four of the six selected stock markets. The positive significant impact is felt on two stock markets, namely, the Abu Dhabi stock market and the Saudi stock market.

The present investigation attempts to fill the gap in the literature on the intended topic because it is evident from the literature on the chosen subject that no study has been undertaken to evaluate and contrast the impact of the GFC crisis and COVID-19 on the GCC stock markets.

Biotech companies stand as key actors in pharmaceutical innovation. The high risk and long timelines inherent with their R&D investments might hinder their access to funding, potentially stifling innovation. This study aims to explore into the appeal of biotech companies to capital market investors, whose financial backing could bolster the growth of the biotechnology sector.

This paper uses a dataset of 774 US publicly listed biotech firms to investigate their risk and return characteristics by comparing them to pharmaceutical firms and a sample of matched non-biotech R&D-intensive firms over the sample period 1980–2021. Tests show that the conclusions remain consistent across diverse methodological approaches.

The paper shows that biotech companies are riskier than the average firm in the market index but outperform on a risk-adjusted basis both the market and a matched group of R&D-intensive firms. This is particularly true for large capitalization biotech, which is also shown to provide a diversification benefit by reducing the downside risk in past crisis periods.

This paper provides insight relevant to the current debate about the overall performance of the biotech industry in terms of policy changes and their impact on small, early-stage biotech firms. While small and early-stage biotech firms are playing an increasing role in scientific innovation, this study confirms their greater vulnerability to financial risks and the importance of access to capital markets in enabling those companies to survive and evolve into larger biotech.

The paper aims to present an experimental and numerical investigation of the load–settlement behavior of soil reinforced by stone column, as well as to evaluate the plane strain unit cell model for the analysis of stone columns.

The numerical analysis was done using both axisymmetric and plane strain models. The elastic perfectly plastic behavior of Mohr–Coulomb was adopted for both soil and column material. The numerical results of this study were validated by the comparison with the in-situ measurements of a full-scale loading test on a stone column. This study also evaluated the effect of different parameters involved in the design of a stone column, including Young’s modulus of the column material, column diameter, spacing between the stone columns and Poisson’s ratio of the column material.

After the numerical simulation, the results from both axisymmetric and plane strain models are quite comparable. In addition, the numerical results revealed that the stone column with low spacing, a large diameter and a high Young’s modulus indicated better behavior against the settlement.

The axisymmetric unit cell model was used in many numerical studies on the behavior of stone columns. In the present work, a field load test on stone column was simulated using a plane strain unit cell model. This research adds that the plane strain unit cell model can be used to predict the settlement of reinforced soil with stone columns.

In this study, we examine whether work from home (WFH) had an impact on firm productivity during the COVID-19 period.

We employ a panel fixed-effect model using 79,201 firm-quarter observations in a cross-country setting of 68 countries.

First, we find that firms that employed WFH contributed to real sector growth during the pandemic due to greater capital expenditure compared to otherwise. Second, we find that WFH amenable firms turned over assets better than less WFH amenable firms.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the impact of WFH on firms’ investment and efficiency using a cross-country setting.

Reducing and eradicating global poverty features as a primary objective of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030. Since over half a century, the World Bank has disbursed loans amounting to billions of US dollars to assist countries to alleviate poverty. However, the path to zero poverty is often impaired with conflicts, social unrest and, most commonly, economic crisis. In this chapter, we examine the inter-linkage between various forms of economic crises, poverty and government expenditure for a set of 127 countries from 1985 to 2010. Using a simultaneous equation model, we test the direct effect of a financial crisis on the incidence of poverty and its indirect effect through the immediate decrease in government expenditure. Contrary to previous studies, our findings suggest that crises have no direct impact on poverty. We find a similar effect for currency, inflation and debt crisis. However, there is evidence that poverty increases indirectly due to a fall in government expenditure. Our results are robust for non-advanced and advanced economies and alternate estimation technique using factor analysis.

As cryptocurrencies continue to gain viability as an asset class, institutional investors and publicly traded firms have started taking investment positions in digital currencies. What firms may not be considering, however, is the effect these assets may have on their risk profiles. This study aims to (1) measure the effect of cryptocurrencies on the risk and return characteristics of publicly traded companies; (2) decipher the motives behind holding cryptocurrencies as an asset class; and (3) determine whether one reason for holding is more effective than another. To conduct this research, the four largest publicly traded holders of cryptocurrency as well as four of the most prominent cryptocurrencies are explored.

The cross-sectional analysis approach has been used to analyze the daily returns, volatility, betas and Sharpe Ratios of firms during periods without cryptocurrency strategies and during periods with cryptocurrency strategies.

The impact of the cryptocurrency asset class on common stock performance and corporate disclosures are documented. The importance of risk disclosures on cryptocurrency holdings is emphasized: Firms must better inform their stakeholders through comprehensive disclosures in financial statements. Firms utilize cryptocurrencies for various reasons such as treasury management tools or as direct sources of income. Consequently, the impact on returns and risks varies substantially.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies on cryptocurrency investments in the treasury departments of publicly traded companies. The study contributes to the literature by extracting relevant information regarding company risk reporting and cryptocurrency risk at firms. The conclusions also promote firm transparency with detailed reporting of cryptocurrency holding risks.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of equity market misvaluation on manager behavior. Using a sample of 535 French-listed over 2000–2018, the authors analyze whether corporate investment decision is sensitive to equity market overvaluation.

The study adopts market-to-book (M/B) decomposition developed by Rhodes-Kropf and Viswanathan (2004, RKV) that proxies for market misvaluation at the firm and industry levels. The authors conducted a long-term performance analysis via a portfolio sorting procedure and a Carhart (1997) four-factor pricing model. The authors tested the relationship between equity misvaluation, corporate investment decisions and equity issuance. The authors ran several robustness tests.

The empirical results show that equity market misvaluation affects corporate investment positively as the stock price deviates further away from its fundamental. Based on market timing theory, the authors find that corporate investment occurs in periods of high valuation motivated by equity issuance to benefit from the low cost of capital. This effect is more prominent for financially constrained firms. Consistent with the catering channel, the authors find that the misvaluation-investment nexus is more pronounced in firms with short-horizon investors. By examining the stocks’ long-term performance of misvalued firms, via a sorting portfolio procedure, the authors find that undervalued firms outperform and generate higher abnormal returns (Jensen’s alpha) than overvalued firms, suggesting that mispricing-driven investment appear to be short-lived and lead to lower return in the long term.

Corporate decision-makers and governance structures should pay attention to the rationality of the corporate investment decision in the context of equity market misvaluation. Managers who focus on maximizing the stock market value in the short-run at the expense of its long-term performance must give preference to value-creating investment, not driven by an external mechanism such as equity market mispricing. More generally, investors and portfolio managers must take into account the market mispricing process in decision-making. Nonetheless, from the portfolio sorting perspective, decision-makers must act in terms of high governance quality to mitigate suboptimal investment due to stock market mispricing (Jensen, 2005). Finally, equity market overvaluation, leading managers to invest via equity financing in particular, should be a signal to attract investors’ attention to seize the window of opportunity and embark on a short-term portfolio strategy. Such a strategy promises high returns in the short term.

This paper investigates jointly two theoretical channels: equity market timing and catering. The authors propose for the analysis three components of the M/B decomposition to dissociate market misvaluation at the firm and industry level from the fundamental component of market value (growth). This procedure provides a better understanding of the role of firm and industry misvaluation in explaining corporate investments. The authors provide evidence of the equity market misvaluation via a portfolio sorting procedure and a Carhart (1997) four-factor pricing model. The authors examine the effect of misvaluation on both the investment and the financing decisions.

This study aims to assess the technological capability of Chinese internet platforms (BAT: Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) compared to US ones (GAFA: Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple). More specifically, this study explores Baidu’s technological catching-up process with Google by analyzing their patent textual information.

The authors retrieved 26,383 Google patents and 6,695 Baidu patents from PATSTAT 2019 Spring version. The collected patent documents were vectorized using the Word2Vec model first, and then K-means clustering was applied to visualize the technological space of two firms. Finally, novel indicators were proposed to capture the technological catching-up process between Baidu and Google.

The results show that Baidu follows a trend of US rather than Chinese technology which suggests Baidu is aggressively seeking to catch up with US players in the process of its technological development. At the same time, the impact index of Baidu patents increases over time, reflecting its upgrading of technological competitiveness.

This study proposed a new method to analyze technology mapping and evolution based on patent text information. As both US and China are crucial players in the internet industry, it is vital for policymakers in third countries to understand the technological capacity and competitiveness of both countries to develop strategic partnerships effectively.