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This paper aims to examine the impact of bank regulation and supervision on financial stability. Financial sector reform, especially in developing countries, takes the form of a sudden adjustment in regulation and supervision. The main objective of the paper is to examine whether this fast and sudden adjustment in regulation and supervision has an undesirable impact on financial stability. Furthermore, the paper examines the role of real economic development in determining the impact of financial reform on financial stability.

Empirically, on a sample of 57 developing countries over the period 2000-2013, the author explored the impact of bank regulation and supervision on financial stability for different sub-groups of countries. The division is based on the real level of economic development and, most importantly, on the speed of adjustment in regulation and supervision. The study uses the cross-sectional–ordinary least square model. Each country has three observations (average 2000-2004, average 2005-2008 and average 2009-2013), which are convenient, with the date of the three surveys on regulation and supervision (2002-2006-2011). The period of the averages is selected to cover periods before and after the survey as regulation and supervision may be adopted before the survey and as its impact may persist for the period after.

The major finding of this study is that it supports the important role of the speed of adjustment in regulation and supervision, and its impact on financial stability. Soft adjustment in regulation and supervision has more positive impact on financial stability than fast adjustment. Activity restrictions have positive and significant impact on financial stability in soft adjustment countries’ group. On the other hand, in countries with fast adjustment, results show negative and statistically significant impact on financial stability, especially for supervisory independence. More time is needed for supervisors to adapt to new regulation and supervision and gain expertise to monitor financial condition of banks in a consistent manner. Results also show that the level of economic development is an important factor when testing the impact of regulation and supervision on financial stability. In lower income countries, more room is available for corruption in lending, which has a negative impact on financial stability.

This study advocates the necessity of taking the speed of adjustment in regulation and supervision by policymakers in developing countries, while initiating reform in the financial sector. Financial sector reform that takes the form of a sudden adjustment in regulation and supervision may have undesirable results in terms of financial stability. On the other hand, soft adjustment in regulation and supervision, which gives more room for supervisors to adapt and gain expertise, may have more positive impact on financial stability.

This paper is the first paper to explore new methods of calculating the speed of adjustment in regulation and supervision, and to examine whether the high speed of financial reform in developing countries has an undesirable impact on financial stability.

Stiffness adjusting ability is essential for soft robotic arms to perform complex tasks. A soft state enables dexterous operation and safe interaction, while a rigid state enables large force output or heavy weight carrying. However, making a compact integration of soft actuators with powerful stiffness adjusting mechanisms is challenging. This study aims to develop a piston-like particle jamming mechanism for enhanced stiffness adjustment of a soft robotic arm.

The arm has two pairs of differential tendons for spatial bending, and a jamming core consists of four jamming units with particles sealed inside braided tubes for stiffness adjustment. The jamming core is pushed and pulled smoothly along the tendons by a piston, which is then driven by a motor and a ball screw mechanism.

The tip displacement of the arm under 150 N jamming force and no more than 0.3 kg load is minimal. The maximum stiffening ratio measured in the experiment under 150 N jamming force is up to 6–25 depends on the bending direction and added load of the arm, which is superior to most of the vacuum powered jamming method.

The proposed robotic arm makes an innovative compact integration of tendon-driven robotic arm and motor-driven piston-like particle jamming mechanism. The jamming force is much larger compared to conventional vacuum-powered systems and results in a superior stiffening ability.

Variable stiffness structure can significantly improve the interactive capabilities of grippers. Shape memory alloys have become a popular option for materials with variable stiffness structures. However, its variable stiffness range is limited by its stiffness in two phases. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the manipulation capabilities of tendon-driven flexible grippers by designing a wide-range variable stiffness structure.

Constitutive models of shape memory alloy and mechanical models are used to analyze the performance of the variable stiffness structure. A separated solution was used to combine the tendon-driven gripper and the variable stiffness structure. The feed-forward control algorithm is used to enhance the control stability of the variable stiffness structure.

The stiffness variable capability of the proposed variable stiffness structure is verified by experiments. The stability of the feedback control algorithm was verified by sinusoidal tracking experiments. The variable stiffness range of 8.41 times of the flexible gripper was tested experimentally. The interaction capability of the variable stiffness flexible gripper is verified by the object grasping experiments.

A new wide-range variable stiffness structure is proposed and validated. The new variable stiffness structure has a larger range of stiffness variation and better control stability. The new flexible structure can be applied to conventional grippers to help them gain stiffness variable capability and improve their interaction ability.

Socially responsible investment (SRI) engagement currently performs a variety of supportive regulatory functions such as reframing norms, establishing dialogue and providing resources to improve performance, however corporate responses are voluntary. This chapter will examine the potential gains in effectiveness for SRI engagement in a responsive regulatory regime.

Global warming is a pressing environmental, social and governance (ESG) issue. By using the example of climate change the effectiveness of SRI engagement actors and the regulatory context can be considered. This chapter builds the conceptual framework for responsive regulation of climate change.

SRI engagement may face resistance from corporations due to its voluntary nature and conflict with other goals. Legitimacy and accountability limit the effectiveness of SRI engagement functioning as a voluntary regulatory mechanism. This chapter argues that the effectiveness of SRI engagement on climate change could be enhanced if it served as part of a responsive regulation regime.

Engagement is used by SRIs for ESG issues. A comprehensive regulatory regime could enhance corporate adaptation to climate change through increasing compliance with SRI engagement. The implication for SRI practitioners is that lobbying for a supportive regulatory regime has a large potential benefit.

Responsive regulatory policy involves both support and sanctions to improve compliance, enhancing policy efficiency and effectiveness. There are potentially large net social benefits from utilising SRI engagement in a regulatory regime.

In seeking to re-articulate voluntary and legal approaches this research addresses a gap in the literature on climate change regulation.

The development of social networks enhances the interaction between people, which brings new challenges to the research of group decision-making (GDM). This study aims at the problem that the synergy and redundancy due to interaction among decision-makers are ignored in the previous GDM, a trust-enhanced consensus reaching model based on interaction among decision-makers with incomplete preferences is proposed.

Firstly, confidence level is introduced to improve the hesitation phenomenon that should be considered when calculating trust degree; Secondly, a new trust propagation operator is developed to deal with indirect trust relationships; Thirdly, trust degree is transformed into interaction index to quantify the synergy and redundancy in decision-making. Fuzzy capacities of decision-makers are used to replace traditional weights, and the final scores of alternatives are obtained through Choquet integral.

The proposed model using fuzzy capacity can reflect the synergy or redundancy among decision-makers and improve the accuracy of final ranking result and reduce the loss of information.

This study proposes a trust-enhanced consensus reaching model, which develops a new trust propagation operator to ensure the continuous attenuation of trust in propagation process. And the proposed model uses fuzzy capacity to improve the enhancement or attenuation on the scores of alternatives.

The theme of this keynote address is conceptual puzzles raised by empirical research on conflict management and resolution. Three types of puzzles are highlighted: those that deal with processes, identities, and situations. The process puzzles include some counter‐intuitive implications of negotiating strategies and interaction process dynamics. The identity puzzles include the ways in which identity is negotiated, perceptions of ingroups and outgroups, and the connection between loyalty to groups and collective action. The situation puzzles address attribution issues, the distinction between passive actors and active agents, and the role of history. An attempt is then made to juxtapose the puzzles toward a larger conception of a field that emphasizes change in the phenomena we analyze in research and shape through practice. A number of these ideas are found also in the research of previous IACM lifetime award recipients, with whom connections are made.

In the garment industry, web lace fabric material must be tensioned and placed at the right position and orientation prior to the cutting process. In order to avoid a bottleneck, the speed of material handling must be relatively fast compared to the laser cutting speed so that the use of a laser for rapid prototyping of two‐dimensional (2D) cutting shapes is feasible. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a novel gripping system for handling flexible web materials.

The manner in which this intelligent material handling system operates will be discussed in this paper. This includes its system configuration, errors that may occur during the web handling operation, and sequential operations of web distortion control. The material handling system uses a machine vision system coupled with a self‐tuning motion control strategy to assist the material handling system in controlling the web tension, adjusting the web deformation parameters and transporting the web materials.

The online image analysis and a novel mechanical design concept, coupled with the motion controller, are the key issues in the mechatronic integration of this intelligent web‐based material handling system.

The paper presents a novel approach to designing and realizing an intelligent gripping system, which has not previously been attempted.

This paper aims to establish the effect of bank regulations on financial stability in Kenya. Specifically, the study seeks to uncover the effect of micro and macro prudential regulations on financial stability and their trade-offs or complementarities.

Using annual time series data over the period 1990–2017, the study uses structural equation model (SEM) estimation technique. This solves the problem of approximating measurement errors, using both latent constructs and indicator constructs.

Study findings reveal that macro and micro prudential regulations are significant drivers of financial stability. Further, prudential regulations are more effective when they complement each other.

This study centers on how bank regulations affect financial stability. Future research could be carried out on the effect of Non-Bank Financial Institutions regulations on financial system stability.

Complementing macro and micro prudential regulation is more effective and efficient in ensuring stability of the financial system other than letting the two policy objectives operate independently.

Regulatory authorities should introduce prudential regulations that would encourage innovations in the banking sector. This ensures easy deposit mobilization that enhances financial inclusion. Prudential regulations that ensure financial stability will be effective when low income earners are included in the financial system.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the role of banking regulations on financial stability. This study is also pioneering in the use of SEM estimation technique, in examining how prudential regulations affect financial stability. Previous cross-country studies have focused on macro prudential regulations ignoring the importance of micro prudential regulations.

Competitive success is increasingly linked to implementing change in a co‐ordinated manner within the organization and in the extended value network that embeds the organization. In particular, for manufacturers the successful implementation of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) can be linked to collaborative buyer‐supplier relationships. Derives a model from the literature to link these aspects. Tests empirically major propositions from this model using data from 83 firms positioned at the top of the Turkish automotive industry supply chain. Establishes that companies with higher levels of AMT implementation collaborative more with their parts suppliers and companies are more successful in achieving their AMT implementation objectives if increased AMT implementation is coupled with more collaborate supplier relationships. Both AMT implementation levels and buyer‐supplier collaboration are shown to have significantly increased over a five‐year period. While AMT implementation levels of individual firms appear to have diverged, levels of buyer‐supplier collaboration appear to have converged during the five years.