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REDIFUSSION Simulation Ltd has extended its Novoview SP‐X family of visual simulation systems.

The unequal distribution of economic activities, transposed in economic, social and territorial disparities is the general characteristic of the European economy. Gaps increased in the context of European Union (EU) enlargement towards Eastern and Central Europe and of the economic crisis, thus bringing new differentiations among member states’ economies. The main aim of the chapter is to emphasise the centre-periphery differentiations in the European economy, by using a composite index of peripherality, in order to better understand the determinants of growth and convergence in Central and Eastern European countries and to reach normative conclusions for increasing Cohesion Policy (CP) effectiveness. The first part of the chapter provides a short overview of the main theories and models of the peripherality analysis and the relationships between the centre and the periphery, in order to find out how this analysis relates to the research in the field. The second part provides a comparative analysis of the evolution of European economies during 2003–2014, in order to find out whether the EU enlargement process stabilised the EU core-periphery pattern or, on the contrary, the process of core-periphery structural convergence occurred. The third part includes the suggested model of analysis (methodology, data, and main results) from a multidisciplinary perspective, underlining the centre-periphery differentiations on the two axes, North–South and West–East. The results have been interpreted in conclusions, with a focus on their relevance for the European CP challenges.

Social presence (SP), which refers to individuals’ perception of others being engaged as “real people” in the same situation, is a crucial component in technology-rich learning environments (TREs). This study aims to identify major learning design, antecedents and outcomes of SP within TREs, and identify common findings from the past two decades.

Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses review principles and a qualitative analysis of selected articles, a final review of 72 studies that met inclusion criteria was obtained. Key information, including education level, discipline, sample size, study type and measurements, was extracted and studies were further analyzed and synthesized based on design features and learning modes.

The study identifies five crucial factors for instructional design to foster SP in TREs: technology affordances, multimedia features, social factors, instructional principles, learner characteristics and learning management systems. The authors compare two learning modes across three dimensions and identify popular technologies used in studies related to SP over the past two decades. Practical recommendations are provided for educators and educational technology developers to enhance SP within technology-rich learning environments.

This research contributes to the discourse on online learning and computer-supported communication, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era. By examining factors influencing SP and providing implications for instruction and educational technology development, this study offers evidence-based support to educators for engaging learners and fostering authentic learning experiences through adaptive selection of educational technologies.

The “Fed Model” postulates a cointegrating relationship between the equity yield on the S&P 500 and the bond yield. We evaluate the Fed Model as a vector error correction forecasting model for stock prices and for bond yields. We compare out-of-sample forecasts of each of these two variables from a univariate model and various versions of the Fed Model including both linear and nonlinear vector error correction models. We find that for stock prices the Fed Model improves on the univariate model for longer-horizon forecasts, and the nonlinear vector error correction model performs even better than its linear version.

The purpose of this paper is to prepare Ti(C,N) coatings on TA15 treated and not treated by shot peening using double glow plasma alloying technique. The effect of shot peening on the wear behavior of Ti(C,N) coatings is discussed.

The Ti(C,N) coatings were prepared by double glow plasma alloying technique on two different TA15 substrate; one is shot peened and the other is not.

Ti(C,N) coating on SP-treated TA15 was thicker and denser, and the grain size was smaller compared with that on original TA15. Compared with the Ti(C,N) coating on original TA15, the wear resistance of that on SP-treated TA15 is improved. Ti(C,N) coating on SP-treated TA15 showed higher nanohardness and bearing capacity than that on original TA15.

For double glow plasma alloying technique, surface quality, surface activity and other factors will have influence on the thickness and density of the coating. The wear mechanisms of Ti(C,N) coating on original TA15 are serious abrasive wear and oxidation wear. However, the wear mechanism of Ti(C,N) coating on SP-treated TA15 is slightly oxidation wear.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2020-0283/

The purpose of this paper is to hypothesize two channels in which market volatility affects initial public offering (IPO) activity.

First, CEOs time the market for IPOs and volatility makes this decision process harder. Second, risk-averse IPO investors become more reluctant toward IPOs during periods of higher volatility for their after-IPO returns.

The authors provide evidence that higher market volatility leads to lower IPO activity, supporting these hypotheses. More importantly, the authors show that it is not the realized volatility, but rather the implied (expected) volatility, that causes lower IPO activity.

While there may be many companies that are ready to have IPOs, they may be simply waiting for a more opportune time which may not necessarily be a period of high prices but of low volatility.

The public policy prescription is clear: if IPOs are to be encouraged, then regulatory policies should be constructed with the aim of reducing volatility.

This study is the first (to the authors’ knowledge) to argue that it is not the realized volatility which most affects the IPO decisions of executives, entrepreneurs and investors.

This study aims to investigate the impact of interest rates, the underlying asset and investment experience on the investment behavior of Japanese retail investors toward structured products (SPs).

Three treatments are constructed through internet-based survey experiments: interest rate, underlying asset framing and investment experience treatments. The interest rate treatment includes high- and low-interest rate environments. The underlying asset framing treatment includes equity and foreign exchange rates for the SP. The investment experience treatment includes experienced and inexperienced respondents for SPs.

The main finding of this study concerns the effect of the interaction between low-interest rates and investment experience. Specifically, SP-experienced investors tend to choose SPs in a low-interest rate environment and prefer equity-linked SPs, even though such SPs are overpriced. This finding is useful for financial regulators in formulating policies that protect retail SP investors in low-interest rate environments worldwide.

This study is the first to measure the sensitivities of investment behavior regarding the relative attractiveness of SPs to low-risk straight bonds, given interest rates, the underlying asset and investment experience. It provides evidence to support the development of SP regulations.

This study examines the direct and indirect effects of organizational environmental orientation (EO)/culture, quality management practices (QMP) and sustainability experience (SE) on the relationship between organizational green practices (GP) and the triple bottom line (TBL) of sustainability performance (SuP).

To test the seven hypotheses, a structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The responses of 365 managers from various USA businesses in the service industries were analyzed using IBM SPSS and structural equation modeling (SEM)-AMOS.

The empirical results indicate that positive SuP in the economic, environmental and social dimensions and organizational GP can be improved by a strong culture of EO, effective QMP and substantial SE.

This research fills the gap in existing research between important organizational and environmental priorities and SuP. Consequently, the study provides managers with important strategic guidance: for environmental practices to achieve profitability and sustainability success, companies must promote an environmental-mindful culture and strategically invest in integrated QM systems.

This research is one of the first that explores how organizational environmental culture and QMP affect directly and indirectly the relationship between GP and SuP. These results provide empirical evidence to support the claim that environmental culture and QMP have significant direct and indirect effects on the relationship between GP and SuP dimensions.