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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 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.

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.

This study examines the association between internal corporate governance mechanisms (i.e. board of directors and audit committee) and the information value of bank earnings. The authors comparatively assess this association across different bank types, Islamic versus conventional banks. The authors also investigate the mediating effect of Shariah governance.

The authors utilize a unique and an international sample of 723 bank-year observations representing 100 listed banks from 16 countries during the period 2007–2015. The authors investigate the characteristics of the board of directors and audit committee (i.e. size and independence) and employ three core analyses for earnings informativeness (i.e. earnings persistence, cash flow predictability and reliability of loan loss provisions). Additional analyses address Shariah supervisory boards’ (SSBs’) size, financial expertise and multiple outside directorships. The authors use the random-effect Generalised Least Squares (GLS) estimation technique and provide several robustness checks and sensitivities.

The authors find that, on average, having large and independent boards (and audit committees) increases the informativeness of reported earnings for banks. Conditional on bank type, our results report strong evidence for differential effects across the two alternative banking systems. In Islamic banks, large and independent board of directors (and audit committees) is positively associated with all measures of information value. There is insignificant evidence for conventional banks. However, SSBs show no significant effect on the reported earnings’ informativeness.

This is the first study, to the best of our knowledge, that empirically and comparatively assesses the information value of reported earnings in association with effective internal governance while recognizing the institutional characteristics of different bank types. The authors offer new insights to policymakers, investors and other stakeholders located within countries operating on a dual banking system. The results could help regulators to improve their rules/guidance related to double-layer governance and financial reporting quality.

This study examines the impact of financial inclusion on the corporate sustainability of banks in both Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and non-OIC emerging economies, considering the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research utilizes data from 3,159 bank-years from 2007 to 2021 across 33 emerging markets.

Empirical findings indicate that firms operating in higher financial inclusion developing countries tend to exhibit higher levels of sustainable development. This positive relationship has become even more pronounced during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting the importance of financial inclusion in fostering corporate sustainability, especially in times of economic challenges. Interestingly, while the positive correlation between financial inclusion and sustainable development remains consistent across both OIC and non-OIC countries, firms in OIC countries do not show significant changes during the pandemic.

This observation suggests that the pandemic’s impact on corporate sustainability may vary between the two groups of countries. This study highlights the significance of financial inclusion in promoting corporate sustainability in developing economies. In times of recessions when accessing finance becomes expensive, policymakers in OIC countries should identify firms that adhere to Islamic principles, such as those sensitive to interest rates, and provide them with targeted support. This assistance can enable these companies to compete effectively and achieve their financial sustainability objectives.

There has been no attempt to investigate the effect of financial inclusion and the pandemic on the sustainable development of banks in developing countries.

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the potential contagion of Bitcoin on financial markets and sheds light on the complex interplay between technological advancements, accounting regulatory and financial market stability.

The study employs a multi-faceted approach to analyze the impact of BTC systemic risk, technological factors and regulatory variables on Asia–Pacific financial markets. Initially, a single-index model is used to estimate the systematic risk of BTC to financial markets. The study then uses ordinary least squares (OLS) to assess the potential impact of systemic risk, technological factors and regulatory variables on financial markets. To further control for time-varying factors common to all countries, a fixed effect (FE) panel data analysis is implemented. Additionally, a multinomial logistic regression model is utilized to evaluate the presence of contagion.

Results indicate that Bitcoin's systemic risk to the Asia–Pacific financial markets is relatively weak. Furthermore, technological advancements and international accounting standard adoption appear to indirectly stabilize these markets. The degree of contagion is also found to be stronger in foreign currencies (FX) than in stock index (INDEX) markets.

This study has several limitations that should be considered when interpreting the study findings. First, the definition of financial contagion is not universally accepted, and the study results are based on the specific definition and methodology. Second, the matching of daily financial market and BTC data with annual technological and regulatory variable data may have limited the strength of the study findings. However, the authors’ use of both parametric and nonparametric methods provides insights that may inspire further research into cryptocurrency markets and financial contagions.

Based on the authors analysis, they suggest that financial market regulators prioritize the development and adoption of new technologies and international accounting standard practices, rather than focusing solely on the potential risks associated with cryptocurrencies. While a cryptocurrency crash could harm individual investors, it is unlikely to pose a significant threat to the overall financial system.

To the best of the authors knowledge, they have not found an asset pricing approach to assess a possible contagion. The authors have developed a new method to evaluate whether there is a contagion from BTC to financial markets. A simple but intuitive asset pricing method to evaluate a systematic risk from a factor is a single index model. The single index model has been extensively used in stock markets but has not been used to evaluate the systemic risk potentials of cryptocurrencies. The authors followed Morck et al. (2000) and Durnev et al. (2004) to assess whether there is a systemic risk from BTC to financial markets. If the BTC possesses a systematic risk, the explanatory power of the BTC index model should be high. Therefore, the first implied contribution is to re-evaluate the findings from Aslanidis et al. (2019), Dahir et al. (2019) and Handika et al. (2019), using a different method.