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This paper is concerned with the effects of weather uncertainty on the electricity future curve. Following the approach used by Lucia and Schwartz (2002), the behavior of the underlying spot price is assumed to consist of two components ‘ a totally predictable deterministic component that accounts for regularities in the evolution of prices and a stochastic component that accounts for the behavior of residuals from the deterministic part. The weather uncertainty is modeled consistently with seasonal outlook probabilities from the CPC (Climate Prediction Center) outlook. For a given realization of temperature, the electricity load can be predicted very accurately by a time series model using temperature and other explanatory variables. Furthermore, if temperature and electricity load are known, the spot price can be predicted as well using the regime switching model with time-varying transition probabilities. The electricity future price can be calculated for the given seasonal probabilities from the CPC outlook. Then the electricity future price can be obtained as the arithmetic average of the one-day electricity future price. The future price reflects clearly the response of the spot price to different weather patterns. As the summer gets warmer, the high price regime is more likely to be realized, and as a result, the future price increases.

This paper aims to examine different types of sharing platforms based on risk perceptions of product/service providers and users, and to illustrate appropriate platform regulation preferences.

A survey was used (N = 540) to collect data on platform participants’ risk perceptions and regulation preferences in the Chinese (N = 263) and the US markets (N = 277). Cluster analysis and multiple correspondence analysis were used to categorise platforms and match their regulation preferences with the risk characteristics.

The results show that i) four types of sharing platforms are categorised in terms of the risk perceived by the supply and demand side, and ii) four types of regulation preferences are clustered, drawing on the power and trust elements proposed from the slippery slope framework. Furthermore, coercive power regulation is favoured by participants of platforms with high supply risk and low demand risk, legitimate power regulation is preferred by actors of platforms with low supply risk and high demand risk, reason-based trust regulation is preferred by actors of platforms with high supply and demand risk, and implicit trust regulation is favoured by participants of platforms with low supply and demand risk.

This paper develops an empirical typology of platforms based on risk perceptions of providers and users, and advances our understanding about lateral exchange markets from a consumer perspective.

This paper provides implications for platforms to regulate transactions through two mechanisms – the power of platforms and trust in platform participants.

Regulating by power ensures transaction security while regulating by trust enhances transaction efficiency, so it is important to configure the power and trust elements in platform regulation in an appropriate manner. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first attempts at addressing platform regulation and shows how consumers’ risk perception of platforms can lead to important implications for theory and practice in marketing and better regulation of platform transactions.

This study aims at examining the contentions of the agency theory by exploring the direct relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure score and corporate financial performance (CFP) from the years 2016–2020. It also tests for the adaptability of slack resources theory by testing this relationship in the presence of a moderating variable (financial slack).

The study relies on the data obtained from Bloomberg database of 112 companies belonging to different sectors. It employs the use of partial least square structure equation modelling (PLS-SEM) for carrying out the empirical analysis.

The results obtained show that there exists a negative relationship between ESG and CFP of the sample firms. These results lend support to the propositions of both the agency theory. Further, the financial slack in the organizations does not ensure a firm's responsible behavior.

The paper provides important implications both from the perspective of managers as well as policymakers. The results of this study will aid the managers in reducing the instances of information asymmetry in the market, thereby tackling the issue of principle agent problems within an organization. From the policy marking perspective, the results of this study will help the regulatory authorities in implementing the necessary rules, regulations and laws that will ensure increased participation from the corporate sector in disclosing their sustainability-related information.

This study is one of its kind to explore the impact of a moderating variable on the ESG-CFP relationship in the context of an emerging economy. It also contributes to the present stream of literature by providing both a theoretical and empirical support to the propositions under consideration.

The embedding of digital technology and the fuzzy organizational boundary have changed the operation of platform innovation ecosystem (PIE). Specifically, as an important energy of PIE, the internal logic of knowledge flow needs to be reconsidered in the context of digital age, which will be helpful to select the cultivation and governance strategy of PIE.

A dual case-analysis is applied to open the “black box” of knowledge flow in the PIE from the perspective of enabled by digital technology, by taking the intellectual property (IP) operation platform as cases.

The research findings are as follow: (1) The knowledge flow mechanism of PIE is mainly demonstrated through the processes of knowledge acquisition, knowledge integration and knowledge spillover. During this process, connectivity empowerment and scenario empowerment realize the digital empowerment of the platform. (2) Connectivity empowerment provides a channel of knowledge acquisition for the digital connection between participants in PIE. In the process of knowledge integration, scenario empowerment improves the opportunities for accurate matching and collaborative innovation between knowledge supplier and demander, and enhance the value of knowledge. The dual effect of connectivity empowerment and scenario empowerment has accelerated the knowledge spillover in PIE. Particularly, connectivity empowerment expands the range of knowledge spillover, and scenario empowerment affects the generativity of the platform, resulting in the enhancement of platform’s capability to embed and expand its value network. (3) Participants have been benefitted from the PIE enabled by digital technology through three key modules (knowledge acquisition, knowledge integration and knowledge spillover), as the result of knowledge flow.

This study focuses on the knowledge flow mechanism of PIE enabled by digital technology, which enriches the PIE theory, and has enlightenments for the cultivation of digital platform ecosystem.

The paper aims to tackle the classification of Remote Sensing Images (RSIs), which presents a significant challenge for computer algorithms due to the inherent characteristics of clustered ground objects and noisy backgrounds. Recent research typically leverages larger volume models to achieve advanced performance. However, the operating environments of remote sensing commonly cannot provide unconstrained computational and storage resources. It requires lightweight algorithms with exceptional generalization capabilities.

This study introduces an efficient knowledge distillation (KD) method to build a lightweight yet precise convolutional neural network (CNN) classifier. This method also aims to substantially decrease the training time expenses commonly linked with traditional KD techniques. This approach entails extensive alterations to both the model training framework and the distillation process, each tailored to the unique characteristics of RSIs. In particular, this study establishes a robust ensemble teacher by independently training two CNN models using a customized, efficient training algorithm. Following this, this study modifies a KD loss function to mitigate the suppression of non-target category predictions, which are essential for capturing the inter- and intra-similarity of RSIs.

This study validated the student model, termed KD-enhanced network (KDE-Net), obtained through the KD process on three benchmark RSI data sets. The KDE-Net surpasses 42 other state-of-the-art methods in the literature published from 2020 to 2023. Compared to the top-ranked method’s performance on the challenging NWPU45 data set, KDE-Net demonstrated a noticeable 0.4% increase in overall accuracy with a significant 88% reduction in parameters. Meanwhile, this study’s reformed KD framework significantly enhances the knowledge transfer speed by at least three times.

This study illustrates that the logit-based KD technique can effectively develop lightweight CNN classifiers for RSI classification without substantial sacrifices in computation and storage costs. Compared to neural architecture search or other methods aiming to provide lightweight solutions, this study’s KDE-Net, based on the inherent characteristics of RSIs, is currently more efficient in constructing accurate yet lightweight classifiers for RSI classification.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of online service quality on swift guanxi that influences customer repurchase intention and the moderating role of gender in the relationship between online service quality and swift guanxi.

Based on survey data obtained from 274 college students, structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses.

The results show that the dimensions of online service quality (i.e. perceived control, convenience and customer service) are positively related to buyer-seller swift guanxi, which influences repurchase intention. Additionally, men are driven mainly by perceived control and service convenience when establishing swift guanxi, whereas women care more about customer service.

Online service quality is the key factor underlying customer repurchase intention. In addition, gender differences exist in many aspects of online shopping including information processing, perceived service, and perceived risk. This is one of the first empirical studies that empirically examine the effects of three dimensions of online service quality on swift guanxi and take gender differences into consideration. Based on the conceptual and empirical evidence, this study provides the practical and theoretical implications of these findings.

This study aims to develop a Stackelberg Game Model for seeking the optimal subsidy plans with varying levels of government financial capability (GFC). Furthermore, the scenario-based analysis is conducted and will enable governments to identify a comprehensive subsidy plan as follows: improve project performance and optimise social welfare.

A Stackelberg Game Model is developed to optimise the effectiveness of subsidies on the performance of public-private partnerships (PPPs).

According to the scenarios that are generated from the model, governments that are confronting with limited public budgets could reduce the intensity of performance incentives and increase the participation-oriented subsidy. Whilst a participation-oriented subsidy can stimulate private organisations’ willingness to participate in infrastructure PPPs, a performance-oriented subsidy is capable of facilitating the projects’ performances. Intuitively, the performance-oriented subsidy enables the private entities of PPPs to improve their efforts on the projects to realise higher profits. However, the participation-oriented subsidy is unable to affect the level of their effort spent on the projects. To satisfy both parties’ expectations in a PPP, the performance-oriented subsidy needs to be prioritised for a purpose of enabling higher quality outputs.

The game model developed in this study contributes to the literature by offering new insight into the underlying mechanism of governments and private entities, in terms of their decision-making for subsidy planning and contributions (i.e. resource allocation and spending) during the life-cycle of PPPs. This research enriches the government subsidy model by revealing the effects of the GFC and clarifies the impacts of two different schemes of subsidy on the performance of PPPs.

The government has been conventionally viewed as being omnipotent to provide PPPs with a wide range of subsidies. However, the subsidies are not unlimited, due to GFC. In addressing this void, this study has modelled the impacts of government subsidy plans with a consideration of GFC-related constraints. The combined effects of the participation- and performance-oriented subsidies on the project performance of PPPs have been examined.

This paper aims to clarify the relationship between mechanical behaviors and the underlying geometry of periodic cellular structures. Particularly, the answer to the following research question is investigated: Can seemingly different geometries of the repeating unit cells of periodic cellular structure result in similar functional behaviors? The study aims to cluster the geometry-functional behavior relationship into different categories.

Specifically, the effects of the geometry on the compressive deformation (mechanical behavior) responses of multiple standardized cubic periodic cellular structures (CPCS) at macro scales are investigated through both physical tests and finite element simulations of three-dimensional (3D) printed samples. Additionally, these multiple CPCS can be further nested into the shell of 3D models of various mechanical domain parts to demonstrate the influence of their geometries in practical applications.

The paper provides insights into how different CPCS (geometrically different unit cells) influence their compressive deformation behaviors. It suggests a standardized strategy for comparing mechanical behaviors of different CPCS.

This paper is the first work in the research domain to investigate if seemingly different geometries of the underlying unit cell can result in similar mechanical behaviors. It also fulfills the need to infill and lattify real functional parts with geometrically complex unit cells. Existing work mainly focused on simple shapes such as basic trusses or cubes with spherical holes.

Virtual tourism has become popular in recent years. However, there is still a research gap on virtual tourist motivation. This study aims to identify virtual tourist motivation and explore the relationship between virtual tourism and on-site tourism.

This research identifies virtual tourist motivation based on Means-end chain (MEC) theory. Laddering interviews with 32 respondents were conducted to construct a hierarchical value map. Additionally, a motivation analysis of virtual tourism and on-site tourism was developed based on a review of the relevant literature.

This exploratory study revealed 12 attributes, 9 results and 4 values that virtual tourists wish to achieve and identified 5 means-end chains where self-satisfaction is the most important value-led motivation. Compared with on-site tourism motivations, virtual tourism shows possibilities of replacing, complementing and extending on-site tourism under certain circumstances. However, it significantly depends on whether tourists are attracted by the technical characteristics, security and experience conditions of virtual tourism.

This study contributes to understanding virtual tourist motivation and offers motivation-based insights into the relationship between virtual and on-site tourism. Managerial implications on how to attract potential online tourists are also provided.

虚拟旅游在近些年逐渐受到欢迎。然而, 关于虚拟旅游动机的研究仍存在不足。本研究旨在识别虚拟旅游动机, 并探讨虚拟旅游与现实旅游之间的关系。

本研究基于方法-目的链（MEC）理论识别虚拟游客动机。通过对32名受访者进行阶梯式访谈, 以构建一个价值阶层图。此外, 本研究在回顾相关文献基础上, 对虚拟旅游和现实旅游的动机进行差异化比较分析。

这项探索性研究揭示了虚拟旅游游客希望实现的12个属性、9个结果和4个价值, 并确定了5条MEC, 其中自我满足是最重要的价值导向动机。通过与现实旅游动机比较, 研究发现虚拟旅游在一定条件下具有替代、补充和延伸现实旅游的可能性。然而, 这在很大程度上取决于游客是否被虚拟旅游的技术特点、安全性和体验等条件所吸引。

研究结果有助于进一步理解虚拟旅游动机, 并为虚拟旅游和现实旅游之间的关系提供基于动机的见解。重要的是, 研究还为如何吸引潜在虚拟游客提供管理启示。

El turismo virtual se ha popularizado en los últimos años. Sin embargo, aún existe un vacío en la investigación sobre la motivación del turista virtual. El estudio pretende identificar la motivación del turista virtual y explorar la relación entre el turismo virtual y el turismo in situ (real).

Esta investigación identifica la motivación del turista virtual basándose en la teoría de la cadena medio-fin (MEC). Se realizaron entrevistas escalonadas a 32 encuestados para construir un mapa jerárquico de valores. Además, se elaboró un análisis de la motivación del turismo virtual y del turismo presencial basado en una revisión de la bibliografía pertinente.

El estudio exploratorio reveló 12 atributos, 9 resultados y 4 valores que los turistas virtuales desean alcanzar e identificó 5 MEC en los que la autosatisfacción es la motivación basada en valores más importante. En comparación con las motivaciones del turismo in situ (real), el turismo virtual muestra posibilidades de sustituir, complementar y ampliar el turismo in situ (real) en determinadas circunstancias. Sin embargo, depende en gran medida de si los turistas se sienten atraídos por las características técnicas, la seguridad y las condiciones de experiencia del turismo virtual.

Este estudio contribuye a comprender la motivación del turista virtual y ofrece perspectivas basadas en la motivación sobre la relación entre el turismo virtual y el turismo in situ (real). También se ofrecen implicaciones para la gestión sobre cómo atraer a los turistas potenciales en línea.