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This chapter prepares expatriates and businesses to live and work in Central Europe. It draws on intercultural relations, international relations, Central and Eastern European studies, interviews with people who are from or living in the region and the American author's experiences as an international student and expat in Kraków, Poland. It begins by introducing the concept of culture and cautioning that Central European culture is not monolithic but contains variety and layers. Second, it explains that the boundaries of Central Europe are hard to define and warns that the labels Central and Eastern European may carry significant meaning for locals. Third, it argues that history is essential to understanding contemporary life in the region and outlines major trends and patterns that remain relevant. It also suggests ways that outsiders can make sense of the relationship between the past and present, with advice on how to talk to locals and a list of questions they can use to integrate and advance their learning. Fourth, it uses Hofstede Insights' (n.d.) model to explore three key dimensions of Central European culture, including indulgence, power distance and uncertainty avoidance. It also presents additional cultural tips from locals and expats for how outsiders can adapt when they move to the region. It concludes by noting that although expats and businesses may find certain elements of Central European culture challenging, they will also likely find their time here moving and memorable.

The sustainability issues faced by Asian firms, such as environmental destruction and depletion of resources, require the existing corporate social responsibility (COSR) models to be carefully examined and re-conceptualized. Both researchers and practitioners have indicated how social equity and having a long-term business perspective are imperative to address environmental concerns alongside fulfilling the wealth maximization goals among firms. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature by examining the interrelationships between COSR parameters among firms, with social equity perspective.

The data for this study comes from the Thomson Reuters Asset4 Index. The baseline sample of this study included 1,690 firms listed between 2011 and 2017. For hypothesis testing, fixed-effect panel analysis on 10,140 firm-year observations over seven years from 2011 to 2017 was conducted. These data points were drawn from four Asian countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong).

This study indicates that developed stock exchange markets among Asian markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong are transitioning from a strong focus on environmental issues to a more social equity-based economy, which is driving higher governance performance. This indicates the significance of the social dimension inherent in sustainable development and goes beyond just the ethical dimensions among the firms and the economy at large. The study also presents the challenges of re-modeling existing COSR framework among firms in Asia which do not have a clear road map on how to achieve environmental performance to achieve higher levels of human well-being, as well as the ethical considerations of achieving the wealth maximization goal.

This paper is unique in nature because it attempts to re-conceptualize the COSR models that support governance initiatives from an Asian market perspective by improving upon environmental performance, which in turn addresses critical issues around depleting resources and reducing wastage in the production process. The re-conceptualization model used in this study is based on the social exchange theory developed by George Homans in 1958. Accordingly, this study links the circular flow of resource procurement as well as production to the circular flow of resource replenishment seen in the chosen emerging Asian markets.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of Work Study is split into six sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Operational research and statistics; Project management, method study and work measurement; Business process re‐engineering; Design of work; Performance, productivity and motivation; Stock control and supply chain management.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the Marketing Intelligence & Planning is split into nine sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Customer Service; Sales Management; Promotion; Marketing Research/Customer Behaviour; Product Management; Logistics and Distribution; Sundry.

“Being connected” is one of the key terms of Franciscan Spirituality. St. Francis decided not to become a hermit (although it always was a great temptation for him), but he lived within the world with the people, especially with the poor. He felt a deep connection with everything and everybody on earth. Nature for him was mother, sister, and brother. Therefore, he had to help creation and creatures, whether an animal, a tree, or a leper. Expressions of this deep connection are his demands and the Franciscan characteristics of (evangelical) poverty, being a minor friar in the brotherhood. Peace and the responsibility for creation or ecology for peace are essentials of this connectedness. Francis wanted to live in peace with everybody and tried to create peace wherever it was possible and necessary. St. Bonaventure laid emphasis especially on this aspect of the Franciscan way of life. For today that has consequences: a radical shift, a conversion toward life and peace-making, toward the poor, and the helplessness of creation. Being connected in this way also has consequences for a re-thinking of the common models of economy.

This research focuses on the elements of pedagogy related to teacher–student engagement that promotes a responsive learning environment and improved outcomes for diverse populations in diverse contexts. We examine the pedagogical practices occasioned by the shift to online learning as a result of schools’ closures that followed the declaration of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis first explores the status of pedagogical practices and access to education technology following the implementation of the SDG4 agenda for an inclusive quality education for all. It follows with an exploration of pedagogical shifts in response to the pandemic following school closures, paying attention to the implications for equity for diverse populations in diverse learning contexts. The analysis draws from the education practice discourse surrounding the pandemic response gained from educators and students, gray literature, emerging scholarly publications, and institutional reports on the topic of pedagogical practices. Lessons from the experiences of the authors as researchers, students, and teachers illustrate examples of Zoom classroom practices that evolved with time that might support productive experiences for learners in technology-mediated learning environments. The global pandemic experience provides an opportunity for the field of comparative education to reconsider planning for the delivery of education in unpredictable and emerging emergencies.

This paper aims to reproduce the electrical connector intermittent fault behaviours with step-up vibration stress while maintaining the integrity of the product.

A dynamic model of an electrical connector under vibration is established for contact resistance analysis. Next, the dynamic characteristics of contact resistance are analysed, and cumulative damage theory is used to calculate the damage under different stresses during the intermittent fault reproduction test. To reduce damage and improve efficiency, the step-up stress is used for the reproduction test.

The proposed method can reproduce the intermittent fault behaviour, and the step-up stress test is more efficient than the constant stress test.

Step-up stress is used for intermittent fault reproduction, and the quantitative relationships between intermittent fault and product damage can be further studied.

It is expected that the proposed methodology can help engineers to reproduce the intermittent fault behaviours to facilitate the detection and diagnosis of intermittent fault and to improve equipment safety.

The mechanism of electrical connector reproduction is analysed and the step-up stress test is used for intermittent fault reproduction.

FOR the student who has to choose a field of study in which to learn and exercise his bibliographic skills Sociology affords an interesting and attractive challenge. Indeed, to understand his chosen profession it must necessarily be placed within its social context. Most students at some stage of their development reflect on the social problems that beset the human situation, and some, as the mass media would have us believe, are anxious to remould the “sorry scheme of things” as represented by the existing social structure.

This study aims to develop an adaptive finite element method for structural eigenproblems of cracked Euler–Bernoulli beams via the superconvergent patch recovery displacement technique. This research comprises the numerical algorithm and experimental results for free vibration problems (forward eigenproblems) and damage detection problems (inverse eigenproblems).

The weakened properties analogy is used to describe cracks in this model. The adaptive strategy proposed in this paper provides accurate, efficient and reliable eigensolutions of frequency and mode (i.e. eigenpairs as eigenvalue and eigenfunction) for Euler–Bernoulli beams with multiple cracks. Based on the frequency measurement method for damage detection, using the difference between the actual and computed frequencies of cracked beams, the inverse eigenproblems are solved iteratively for identifying the residuals of locations and sizes of the cracks by the Newton–Raphson iteration technique. In the crack detection, the estimated residuals are added to obtain reliable results, which is an iteration process that will be expedited by more accurate frequency solutions based on the proposed method for free vibration problems.

Numerical results are presented for free vibration problems and damage detection problems of representative non-uniform and geometrically stepped Euler–Bernoulli beams with multiple cracks to demonstrate the effectiveness, efficiency, accuracy and reliability of the proposed method.

The proposed combination of methodologies described in the paper leads to a very powerful approach for free vibration and damage detection of beams with cracks, introducing the mesh refinement, that can be extended to deal with the damage detection of frame structures.

In the European Union, the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities Directive (UCITS IV) requires fund management companies to provide a Key Investor Information Document (UCITS KIID) for investors. This papers uses archival data from the Finnish mutual fund market to test how the regulation's information disclosure requirements concerning past performance, risk and fund fees are associated with mutual fund flows.

The study uses archival data on the mutual funds market in Finland to test how the regulation relating to retail investors' information requirements is associated with mutual fund flows.

Our findings suggest that the UCITS KIID predicts retail investors' fund flows. While past performance is associated with fund flows throughout the observation period, retail investors appear to have become more sensitive to fund fees and invest in less risky funds following the adoption of the UCITS IV period.

Information relating to fund fees and risk appears to be relevant to retail investors, which should be acknowledged in future iterations of short-form disclosure and in mutual fund marketing.

This paper is the first to assess the significance of KIID in actual market environment.