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This study aims to modify the human factors analysis and classification system (HFACS) to make it suitable for collapse accident analysis in construction. Based upon the modified HFACS, distribution patterns of causal factors across multiple levels were discerned among causal factors of various stakeholders at construction sites. It explored the correlations between two causal factors from different levels and further determined causation paths from two perspectives of level and stakeholder.

The main research framework consisted of data collection, coding and analysis. Collapse accident reports were collected with adequate causation information. The modified HFACS was utilized for coding causal factors across all five levels in each case. A hybrid approach with two perspectives of level and stakeholder was proposed for frequency analysis, correlation analysis and path identification between causal factors.

Eight causal factors from external organizations at the fifth level were added to the original HFACS. Level-based correlation analyses and path identification provided safety managers with a holistic view of inter-connected causal factors across five levels. Stakeholder-based correlation analyses between causal factors from the fifth level and its non-adjacent levels were implemented based on client, government and third parties. These identified paths were useful for different stakeholders to develop specific safety plans for avoiding construction collapse accidents.

This paper fulfils an identified need to modify and utilize the HFACS model for correlation analysis and path identification of causal factors resulting in collapse accidents, which can provide opportunities for tailoring preventive and protective measures at construction sites.

Given the scarcity of data during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in China, the decision-making for non-pharmaceutical policies was mostly based on insufficient evidence. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of these policies, such as lockdown and government subsidies, on rural households and identify policy implications for China and other countries in dealing with pandemics.

The authors survey 2,408 rural households by telephone from 101 counties across 17 provinces in China during the first stage of the pandemic (March 2020). The authors use the ordered probit model and linear regression model to study the overall impact of policies and then use the quantile regression model and sub-sample regression method to study the heterogeneity of the effects of government policies.

The authors find that logistics disruption due to lockdown negatively affected rural households. Obstructed logistics is associated with a more significant loss for high-income households, while its impact on the loss expectation of low-income households is more severe. Breeding and other industries such as transport and sales suffer more from logistics than cultivation. The impact of logistics on intensive agricultural entities is more serious than that on professional farms. The government subsidy is more effective at reducing loss for low-income households. Lockdown and government subsidies have shown heterogeneous impacts on rural households.

The overall economic losses experienced by rural households in the early stages of the pandemic are controllable. The government policies of logistics and subsidies should target specific groups.

The authors evaluate the economic impacts of lockdown and government subsidies on rural households and show their heterogeneity among different groups. The authors further demonstrate the policy effectiveness in supporting rural households during the early stages of the pandemic and provide future policy guidance on major public health event.

This study aims to design an optimized algorithm for low-cost pedestrian navigation system (PNS) to correct the heading drift and altitude error, thus achieving high-precise pedestrian location in both two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) space.

A novel heading correction algorithm based on smoothing filter at the terminal of zero velocity interval (ZVI) is proposed in the paper. This algorithm adopts the magnetic sensor to calculate all the heading angles in the ZVI and then applies a smoothing filter to obtain the optimal heading angle. Furthermore, heading correction is executed at the terminal moment of ZVI. Meanwhile, an altitude correction algorithm based on step height constraint is proposed to suppress the altitude channel divergence of strapdown inertial navigation system by using the step height as the measurement of the Kalman filter.

The verification experiments were carried out in 2-D and 3-D space to evaluate the performance of the proposed pedestrian navigation algorithm. The results show that the heading drift and altitude error were well corrected. Meanwhile, the path calculated by the novel algorithm has a higher match degree with the reference trajectory, and the positioning errors of the 2-D and 3-D trajectories are both less than 0.5 per cent.

Besides zero velocity update, another two problems, namely, heading drift and altitude error in the PNS, are solved, which ensures the high positioning precision of pedestrian in indoor and outdoor environments.

Knowledge is perceived as very important asset for organizations and knowledge management is critical for organization competitiveness. Because the nature of knowledge is always represented as complex and varied, it is difficult to extend effectiveness of knowledge re‐use in organizations. In this article, an approach based on the Zachman’s Framework to externalize organizational knowledge into semi‐structured knowledge is developed, and eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is applied to transform the knowledge into documents. In addition, latent semantic indexing (LSI), which is capable of solving problems of synonyms and antonyms, as well as improving accuracy of document searches, is incorporated to facilitate search of semi‐structured knowledge (SSK) documents based on user demands. The SSK approach shows great promise for organizations to acquire, store, disseminate, and reuse knowledge.

This study aims to examine the mediating role of organisational fairness on the association between the emphasis on budgets and budget difficulty with budget value and job stress. Data were collected using an online survey questionnaire with 515 responses from middle and lower-level managers in Australian business organisations. The results indicate that organisational fairness fully mediates the association between budget difficulty with both budget value and job stress. Organisational fairness was not found to mediate the association between the emphasis on budgets with budget value and job stress. Rather, the emphasis on budgets was significantly negatively associated with job stress, implying that a greater emphasis on budgets is desirable in alleviating job stress. The findings have important implications for practice.

Globalisation is generally defined as the “denationalisation of clusters of political, economic, and social activities” that destabilize the ability of the sovereign State to control activities on its territory, due to the rising need to find solutions for universal problems, like the pollution of the environment, on an international level. Globalisation is a complex, forceful legal and social process that take place within an integrated whole with out regard to geographical boundaries. Globalisation thus differs from international activities, which arise between and among States, and it differs from multinational activities that occur in more than one nation‐State. This does not mean that countries are not involved in the sociolegal dynamics that those transboundary process trigger. In a sense, the movements triggered by global processes promote greater economic interdependence among countries. Globalisation can be traced back to the depression preceding World War II and globalisation at that time included spreading of the capitalist economic system as a means of getting access to extended markets. The first step was to create sufficient export surplus to maintain full employment in the capitalist world and secondly establishing a globalized economy where the planet would be united in peace and wealth. The idea of interdependence among quite separate and distinct countries is a very important part of talks on globalisation and a significant side of today’s global political economy.

Outlines Hong Kong’s financial system during the pre‐unification era. Looks at recent issues, regulatory changes and its development as an international financial centre. Considers banking, the stock market, the bond & futures market, the gold market, regulatory bodies and monetary and currency policies. Contrasts these with the pre‐unification system in China. Outlines the way that these two systems propose to exist together, looking at the potential benefits and problems this may bring.

Employee Stock Options are the most widely used incentive compensation tool, and prior research has shown their advantages. However, research among different peer groups, different time frames, different research methodologies, and the constantly changing public opinion prevents unanimous agreements on the various benefits of Employee Stock Options. In this paper we apply a number of research hypotheses tested in recent US studies to a European sample of EuroStoxx 50 companies. Due to the globalisation, the similar accounting regulations and the IT and telecommunications revolu tions, Europe and the United States have grown closer together than ever before and are expected to display similar business practices. This assessment should be especially relevant for the large European companies, which mostly have a dual listing in the United States and are therefore essentially forced to manage according to American practices. How ever, the results differ significantly from the existing US research, providing insufficient grounds to accept previous findings for European companies.

This paper proposes a revised analytical model for accounting professionals that can be used to evaluate the financial well being of innovative companies that rely on earnings management practices (EM) for their growth. Through an analysis of corporate governance, financial reporting standards, and ratio analysis this paper reaches the conclusion that Enron extended previously researched earnings management practices that could have been detected in early 2000. Results of the analysis indicate that by using price book, price earnings multiple, net margin percentage, and return on assets, and taking into consideration the so‐called risk management activities which seemed to disguise highly volatile speculative derivative‐based activities, Enron was headed for implosion at least one year before its collapse.

management practices in a Russian Multinational Company (RMC). The paper is motivated by the lack of empirical evidence on financial management practices outside the Western World (especially from Russia and from other Commonwealth of Independent States). Data for the analysis are gathered from documents and in‐depth interviews with finance managers in the company. The findings of the paper suggest that the company implemented an international cash management system reminiscent of international cash management discussed in the Western literature. For example, techniques such as netting, leading and lagging, re‐invoicing center and cash flow planning are used in the company. Thus, our conclusion is that financial management techniques are likely to be the same in Russia as in the Western world. However, differences are likely to be found in the ways in which these techniques are implemented and used in practice due to differences in environmental conditions. For example, the company did not use any of the sophisticated cash management models discussed in the literature. Our research has implications for understanding financial management practices outside the Western World, especially in Russia.