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The purpose of the present study is to report the initial analyses of relationships between various components of the learning patterns exhibited by a group of 1,572 post‐secondary students in Hong Kong as operationalized via the Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS), a quantitative instrument developed by Vermunt originally for the Dutch higher education context.

The ILS was adapted and translated into Chinese for the new response‐context. After validation of the ILS scales (results reported in another paper), the possible direct, indirect, or spurious effects among the learning constructs operationalized by these scales were explored using a general theoretical model proposed by Richardson, according to the exhibited statistical significance and magnitude of the beta weights derived from multiple regression analyses.

Empirical support was found in this new Chinese response‐context for the theoretical model that underpins the ILS. In particular, the findings confirm the central explanatory role of regulation strategies in students’ learning patterns, as originally hypothesized by Vermunt.

The present study contributes to the ILS literature by expanding the application of the instrument to a new Chinese response‐context. It is also believed to be the first attempt to adapt Richardson's general theoretical model to analyse the relationships between the ILS components.

The purpose of this paper is to perform the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation with experimental validation to investigate the particle segregation effect in abrupt and smooth shapes circulating fluidized bed (CFB) risers.

The experimental investigations were carried out in lab-scale CFB systems and the CFD simulations were performed by using commercial software BARRACUDA. Special attention was paid to investigate the gas-particle flow behavior at the top of the riser with three different superficial velocities, namely, 4, 6 and 7.7 m/s. Here, a CFD-based noble simulation approach called multi-phase particle in cell (MP-PIC) was used to investigate the effect of traditional drag models (Wen-Yu, Ergun, Wen-Yu-Ergun and Richardson-Davidson-Harrison) on particle flow characteristics in CFB riser.

Findings from the experimentations revealed that the increase in gas velocity leads to decrease the mixing index inside the riser. Moreover, the solid holdup found more in abrupt riser than smooth riser at the constant gas velocity. Despite the more experimental investigations, the findings with CFD simulations revealed that the MP-PIC approach, which was combined with different drag models could be more effective for the practical (industrial) design of CFB riser. Well agreement was found between the simulation and experimental outputs. The simulation work was compared with experimental data, which shows the good agreement (<4%).

The experimental and simulation study performed in this research study constitutes an easy-to-use with different drag coefficient. The proposed MP-PIC model is more effective for large particles fluidized bed, which can be helpful for further research on industrial gas-particle fluidized bed reactors. This study is expected to give throughout the analysis of CFB hydrodynamics with further exploration of overall fluidization.

The objective of this chapter is to discuss how different techniques in Regional Science and Peace Science and the emerging techniques in Management Science can be used in analysing Disaster Management and Global pandemic with special reference to developing countries. It is necessary for me to first discuss the subjects of Disaster Management, Regional Science, Peace Science and Management Science. The objective of this chapter is to emphasise that the studies of Disaster Management should be more integrated with socioeconomic and geographical factors. The greatest disaster facing the world is the possibility of war, particularly nuclear war, and the preparation of the means of destruction through military spending.

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency in China.

By analyzing institutional background and hypotheses development, the paper selected listed firms in China to be the study samples. On the base of that, the relationship between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency of the samples were discussed.

Consistent with this claim, the paper finds proxies for financial reporting quality, namely self‐constructed composite measures, are negatively associated with both under‐ and overinvestment of the listed corporations; of which the effects of accrual quality and earnings smoothness on under‐ and overinvestment are most significant.

Overall, this paper has implications for research examining the determinants of investment efficiency and the economic consequences of enhanced financial reporting.

This paper seeks to develop Chinese economic infrastructure into an economically efficient system of public financial reporting and disclosure in order to improve accounting information's role of allocating capital.

The conclusion of this paper might be the first empirical evidence to support prior research that financial reporting quality is positively related to investment efficiency for large, US publicly traded firms, thus the findings extend to public firms in emerging markets.

The quest for national security through the expansion of military force has been a dominant feature of international relations for the past three decades. Since the Second World War this quest has given rise to an arms race which has seen the development, production and deployment of weapons of mass destruction in numbers great enough to threaten the termination of human society. It is thus only reasonable to try to understand the forces which have propelled this process forward and to ask whether the process has, in fact, resulted in the achievement of its alleged primary objective — the improvement, or at least the maintenance of the military security of the participants.

Due to the great distinctions for the legal environments, institutions and taxations, the restrictive external financing and costly financing cost, and great influence of macroeconomy or regulations on single industry, firms may change or adjust their organization structure to adapt to rapidly changing environment. Flat structure can decentralize the powers to subsidiary managers and can internalize the managerial market to promote competition among subsidiary managers and create an internal capital market within firms to alleviate external financing constrains, and it is matched with the diversification strategy to lower the operation risk and regulation risk for firms in changing environment. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The data of 6,065 listed corporations in China securities market since 2001-2006 are used to empirically test the hypotheses.

The paper examines the efficiency of flat structure within the firm, investigating its influence on capital allocation and corporate performance. It shows that flat structure is better in emerging market since it is efficient in capital allocation, reducing the inefficient investment by reducing the overinvestment and alleviating the underinvestment, thus beneficial for corporate performance, both short-term and long-term accounting returns.

From the results of this study, the paper can derive the important managerial implications that top managers should strengthen flexibility through flat structure so that their firms can grasp opportunities and obtain advantages through efficient improvement of mobility, adaptability, and combination in an uncertain environment. Moreover, flat structure can decentralize the powers to subordinate managers and create an internal managerial market and internal capital market within firms.

By using the previous and change of multi-unit structure, the change of corporate performance, diverse and concentrated firms, the paper shows that results are not due to the endogenous problem. The study finds that in less-developed capital market under the current situation, flat structure is better, which suggests that flat structure can properly implement the strategies in emerging market and beneficial for corporate performance.

In this study, the authors explore the association between employee education level and the efficiency of corporate investment using data from a sample of Chinese listed firms during the period from 2011 to 2018. By examining the impact of education on investment efficiency, the authors' study provides valuable insights that contribute to a deeper understanding of the underlying economic mechanisms related to education.

The authors conduct multivariate regression analyses to examine the relationship between investment efficiency (following Richardson, 2006) and the level of employee education, along with a series of control variables. To ensure the reliability of the authors' findings, the authors subject the their results to a comprehensive set of robustness tests, such as a staggered difference-in-difference (DiD) regression approach, an instrumental variable (IV) method and the use of alternative employee education level and investment efficiency measurements.

The findings offer compelling evidence that higher levels of education have a positive impact on firms' investment efficiency, and this effect remains robust across various model specifications and endogeneity considerations. Moreover, the influence of education is more pronounced in firms that prioritize employee training, maintain effective internal communication and offer attractive financial rewards. Furthermore, the results suggest that the relationship between education and investment efficiency is influenced by the firms' business nature and competitive environment. Factors such as business complexity, labor intensity and business location also play a role in shaping the impact of education on investment outcomes.

The study emphasizes the crucial role of education in influencing investment decisions and performance within firms. By delving into this previously unexplored area, the authors' research contributes to the existing literature, establishing that the level of employee education is a significant determinant of corporate investment efficiency. This valuable insight has substantial implications for firms aiming to enhance their investment decision-making processes and overall performance. Understanding the positive impact of education on investment efficiency can empower organizations to leverage their human capital effectively and achieve better investment outcomes, ultimately contributing to long-term success and competitiveness in the market.

The purpose of this paper is to expand the investor sentiment’s effect on investment efficiency to the layer of “credit financing,” studying whether investor sentiment can affect credit financing level and the inner mechanism of the effect.

The authors obtain firm-level data from the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets and using panel estimation techniques examine whether investor sentiment can affect credit financing level and the inner mechanism of the effect.

This paper finds that credit financing plays the role of partial media in the process of investor sentiment affecting investment efficiency. Based on the funds increasing effect, with the high-investor sentiment and increasing credit financing, corporations alleviate the financing constraints, but also provide a convenient for the abuse of corporate funds. So, investor sentiment positively associates with enterprises’ overinvestment, while investor sentiment negatively associates with enterprises’ underinvestment. Relying on the particular system background and property right environment in China, this paper finds that investor sentiment has an effect on the overinvestment of state-owned enterprises and the underinvestment of private enterprises through credit financing channel, while it does not function in the overinvestment of private enterprises. The reason of the difference is that under the soft budget constraint in the country, the credit preference of state-owned enterprises and the creditor’s rights management of banks are partially absent.

By fusing the special financial environment and institutional background, this thesis further includes in the analysis frame the difference in governance effect by credit financing between state-owned and privately owned listed companies, and further analyzes the difference in impact on investment efficiency in enterprises of different natures after investor sentiment has affected enterprise credit financing.

This paper has verified the constraint assumption and deepened the research work on bank credit supply and answered practical questions such as whether the banks in the country exercise supervision function over the listed companies and on which kind of listed companies the supervision function plays a more effective role.

As an unofficial substitution mechanism, bank-enterprise relationship can elevate the investment efficiency by private owned enterprises. Based on the timely research results on credit financing, reference is provided for private listed companies to utilize investor sentiment to improve its investment efficiency.

This paper has proved the specific path which creates the dual effects on resources allocation by investor sentiment, that is, the intermediary transmission in credit financing, clarifying the mechanism of action by which investor sentiment affects the efficiency of enterprise investment and making incremental contribution to the research of how investor sentiment affects the efficiency of enterprise investment.

Based on a sample of 1,435 Vietnamese listed firms over the period from 2005 to 2017, this study examines the sensitivity of unexpected investment to free cash flow and its mechanism.

We tested three hypotheses using two-step system-GMM to investigate investment–cash flow sensitivity for various firm scenarios while accounting for confounding variables.

Firms with negative free cash flow are more likely to engage in underinvestment; conversely, overinvestment is found primarily in firms with positive free cash flow. In terms of the mechanism, while underinvesting decisions are caused mainly by financial constraints, overinvesting behaviour primarily resulted from agency problems, typically in the form of principal-principal conflicts. Interestingly, under the impact of negative cash flow observations, financial constraints tend to decrease investment–cash flow sensitivity. Conversely, the agency costs hypothesis reveals that agency problems are more likely to increase investment–cash flow sensitivity.

These findings not only contribute to the current corporate literature but also provide some important practical implications for stock market investors, corporate managers, and policy-setting bodies, specifically in the Vietnamese market.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between board diversity measured as relation-oriented, task-oriented and board overall diversity and firm’s investment efficiency.

This study estimates four dimensions of board diversity, including age, gender, tenure and education. The four dimensions are further categorized in relation-oriented diversity (i.e. age and gender), task-oriented diversity (i.e. tenure and education) and overall board diversity (relation and task oriented). Panel data analysis is used to examine the board diversity–investment efficiency relationship in Chinese listed firms during the years 2003–2018. The findings of the study are robust to a battery of econometric techniques.

This study finds relation-oriented, task-oriented and overall diversity of a board curb investment inefficiency by discouraging sub-optimal investment (over- or under-investment). In other words, board diversity improves firms’ investment efficiency.

The results suggest that board diversity plays a significant role in corporate decisions. The findings illustrate that board diversity disciplines the management, reduces agency conflicts and thereby improves corporate governance, resulting in higher investment efficiency.

This study has two important contributions. First, this study extends the prior literature of investment efficiency by considering socio-psychological dimension of the board diversity by constructing relation- and task-oriented diversity. Second, contrary to earlier studies on board diversity, this study takes four facets of board diversity, i.e. age, gender, education and tenure that improve corporate governance mechanism.