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This paper presents physical and geotechnical characteristics of unstabilized (original) and stabilized peat soil samples from Sarawak, Malaysia. Peat soil is heterogeneous, with high compressibility, high water content, low specific gravity and has medium to low permeability. As a result, evaluation of physical and geotechnical properties are very important for any types of construction on it. Different physical and geotechnical properties e.g. organic content, loss on ignition, liquid limit, specific gravity, fiber content, compaction and Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) tests have been carried out on peat soil sample. Locally available fly ash (FA) from coal fired thermal power plant and commercially available quick lime (QL) were used as stabilizers. The amount of FA and QL added to the peat soil sample, is 5 to 25% and 2 to 8%; respectively, for curing periods of 7 to 120 days. The standard Proctor compaction test and UCS test were carried out on original and stabilized peat soil samples with the above mentioned percentages of stabilizer and results show that the UCS value increases significantly with the increase of FA and QL percentage and also with curing periods. But, with 15 to 20 % FA and 6 % QL added with peat soil, the UCS values slightly decreases up to 28 days and again increases after 120 days curing periods. Furthermore, liquid limit and specific gravity tests have been carried out with only for the FA stabilized peat soil samples, in order to comprehend their stabilized behavior.

This paper presents the results of the physical and compressibility characteristics of tropical peat, from Matang, Malaysia. Different physical properties tests have been conducted on peat samples. Rowe cell consolidation and standard 1-D consolidation tests were performed on undisturbed peat samples to evaluate the compressibility characteristics. A specially designed and fabricated peat sampler has been used to collect the undisturbed peat sample for Rowe cell consolidation test. The laboratory test results revealed that peat has a large void ratio with high water content and undergone large consolidation settlements when applied load. The results of Rowe cell test can be used to simulate close to the the field geotechnical characteristics of peat for any design or numerical modelling where reliable data is most important.

The purpose of this study is to explore the economic impact of financial restatements by major customers on the audit opinion of their suppliers, showing that non-financial information disclosure potentially helps auditors make better assessments.

Using a sample of China’s listed firms from 2007 to 2021, the authors aim to find the relationship between customers’ financial restatements and their suppliers’ audit opinions. Heckman selection model, placebo tests and other robustness checks are used as well.

The findings reveal that customers’ financial restatements have a significant effect on the likelihood of suppliers receiving modified audit opinions. This relationship is pronounced when suppliers face a higher level of financial constraints, exhibit poorer accounting conservatism or receive more negative media coverage. Additionally, this effect occurs through increased business risk and information risk, which heightens auditors’ perceived audit risk. Moreover, the study highlights the influence of switching costs, auditor expertise and restatement severity on this relationship.

Risks originating from customers can spread along the supply chain, emphasizing the necessity for auditors to give heightened attention to both the audited firms and their customer information. Moreover, regulators should carefully consider the important impact of customer information disclosures to maximize the protection of the interests of external information users.

This study not only confirms the crucial role of customer information disclosures in annual reports for stakeholders and auditors but also contributes to the existing literature on customer–supplier relationships.

This study aims to predict the fracture properties of geopolymer concrete, which is necessary for studying failure behaviour of concrete.

Geopolymers are new alternative binders for cement in which polymerization gives strength to concrete rather than through hydration. Geopolymer concrete was developed from industrial byproducts such as GGBS and dolomite. Present study estimates the fracture energy of GGBS geopolymer concrete using three point bending test (RILEM TC50-FMC) with different percentages of dolomite and compare with cement concrete having same strength.

The fracture properties such as peak load, critical stress intensity factor, fracture energy and characteristic length are found to be higher for GGBS-dolomite geopolymer concrete, when their proportion becomes 70:30.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is an original experimental work.

In cold areas, frost damage is the main factor for diminution of durability and serviceability of structures. Due to incessant freeze thaw regimes, micro cracks spread and deteriorate concrete to point of failure.

The study aims to evaluate the fresh and hardened properties of concrete after thirty freeze-thaw cycles tailored with carbon nano tubes. For this purpose, samples with 0.4, 0.45, 0.48, 0.5 and 0.55 water cement ratio while 0.5 and 1% carbon nano tube (CNT) content by weight of cement were prepared.

At 0.48 water cement ratio and 0.5% CNT by weight of cement workability reduced by 37% and water absorption reduced by 0.04%. But compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength increased by 15.38, 33.02 and 15.75%, respectively, after 30 freeze thaw cycles. Also, weight loss reduced with addition of 0.5% CNT by weight of cement after freeze thaw cycles.

Novelty of this research is to tailor traditional concrete with new materials.

Previous research found that customer financial distress can spillover to supplier firm decisions. The aim of this paper is to examine the investment decisions of suppliers of financially distressed customers.

The paper uses a US sample of customer-supplier relationships from Compustat Segments between 1980 and 2017. The author uses a linear probability model in the baseline regression analysis. To ensure robustness, a logit regression model and an instrumental variable estimation approach are used, instrumenting for distress at the customer level using a negative shock to customer industry demand.

This study finds suppliers are more likely to reduce their investment in Capex when a customer is financially distressed. Supplier investment efficiency does not improve when a customer is financially distressed as suppliers with a greater likelihood of under-investment reduce their investment, while suppliers with a greater likelihood of over-investment increase their investment. The effect of customer distress on supplier investment decisions is more pronounced for suppliers of economically distressed customers.

This paper examines how suppliers adjust their investment in response to customer distress, providing an additional channel through which customer distress affects suppliers. Overall, this study finds an important real implication of financial distress in the buyer-supplier relationship.

The intent and aim of the research was to look at a particular house type i.e. a terraced house with four floors, which is one of the popular designs commonly used in the last ten years in mass housing projects in Turkey. There are four alternatives of the type related with the cross-sectional relationship with the ground floor level. Emphasis was placed upon the "semi-cellar type" assuming that even though the level of residential satisfaction gradually increases with the possibility of interpreting the use of the open-plan floor space, and by proposing new design elements to create more adaptable and flexible spaces, the users may still experience dissatisfaction with designs where the space cannot be revised. With the use of a questionnaire, participants judged their own house as a whole and evaluated its uses for different functions and activities, complained in respect of changes required, and finally outlined their plans for the future. Despite the high level of satisfaction with having a garden (a unique characteristic in apartment-saturated Ankara), the aspect of dissatisfaction mostly referred to was the kitchen-garden relationship (or lack thereof). The residents, especially the older ones, were generally dissatisfied with the multi-storey design of their house. They prefer to remain on the backyard level without changing floors in different seasons. Besides, the users spending the longest time in the house complained more than the others and the people spending variable time in the house stated that they preferred to change the floors in different seasons. As compared to larger families, the smaller families were more likely to change floors.

Presents an approach for assessing the overall performance index (i.e. the relative value) of the suppliers asset base of an organization. Four sets of end‐result variables, for example the total service level (i.e. service level and its reliability), the total quality level (i.e. quality and reliability), the after‐sales service level and the effective price level have been considered to reflect a supplier′s performance. Appropriate surrogate measures for assessing these variables have been suggested. The performance level of a supplier has been judged in relation to the nature of the item, its importance, criticality, situational context in which the supply has been made and the proportional volume of the total requirements supplied by that supplier. This is expressed as an overall performance index for the supplier. A study has been carried out in a small‐scale engineering unit to assess the relative value of its suppliers asset base for a five‐year period relative to the base period. The suppliers asset base has been found to be appreciating over the years reflecting the effectiveness of managing it.

The purpose of this research is to investigate how to introduce a financing scheme to tackle the manufacturer's capital constraint problem, discuss the effects of data-driven marketing (DDM) quality, cross-channel-return (CCR) rate and financing interest rate on the members' pricing and delivery-lead-time decisions and optimal performances, and analyzes `how to achieve the coordination within a dual-channel supply chain (DSC) by contract coordination.

This work establishes a DSC model with DDM, and the offline retailer can provide internal financing to the capital-constrained online manufacturer. The demand under the price is determined based on DDM quality, customer channel preference and delivery lead time. Then, combined with the Stackelberg game, the optimal pricing and delivery-lead-time decisions are discussed under the inconsistent and consistent pricing strategies with decentralized and centralized systems. Furthermore, it designs a manufacturer-revenue sharing contract to coordinate the members under the two pricing strategies.

(1) The increase of DDM quality will reduce the delivery-lead-time under the inconsistent or consistent pricing strategy and will push the selling prices; (2) The growth of the CCR rate will raise selling prices and extend the delivery-lead-time under the decentralized decision; (3) Under price competition, the offline selling price is higher than the online selling price when customers prefer the offline channel and vice versa; (4) The retailer and the manufacturer can achieve a win-win situation through a manufacturer-revenue sharing contract.

This paper contributes to the studies related to DSC by investigating pricing and delivery-lead-time decisions based on DDM, CCR, internal financing and supply chain contract and proposes some managerial implications.

This study empirically examines the relation between profitability and liquidity, as measured by current ratio and cash gap (cash conversion cycle) on a sample of joint stock companies in Saudi Arabia. Using correlation and regression analysis the study found significant negative relation between the firm’s profitability and its liquidity level, as measured by current ratio. This relationship is more evident in firms with high current ratios and longer cash conversion cycles. At the industry level, however, the study found that the cash conversion cycle or the cash gap is of more importance as a measure of liquidity than current ratio that affects profitability. The size variable is also found to have significant effect on profitability at the industry level. Finally, the results are stable over the period under study.