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Continuum‐atomistic modeling denotes a mixed approach combining the usual framework of continuum mechanics with atomistic features like e.g. interaction potentials. Thereby, the kinematics are typically characterized by the so called Cauchy‐Born rule representing atomic distance vectors in the spatial configuration as an affine mapping of the atomic distance vectors in the material configuration in terms of the local deformation gradient. The application of the Cauchy‐Born rule requires sufficiently homogeneous deformations of the underlying crystal. The model is no more valid if the deformation becomes inhomogeneous. By virtue of the Cauchy‐Born hypothesis, a localization criterion has been derived in terms of the loss of infinitesimal rank‐1 convexity of the strain energy density. According to this criterion, a numerical yield condition has been computed for two different interatomic energy functions. Therewith, the range of the Cauchy‐Born rule validity has been defined, since the strain energy density remains quasiconvex only within the computed yield surface. To provide a possibility to continue the simulation of material response after the loss of quasiconvexity, a relaxation procedure proposed by Tadmor et al. [1] leading necessarily to the development of microstructures has been used. Alternatively to the above mentioned criterion, a stability criterion has been applied to detect the critical deformation. For the study in the postcritical region, the path‐change procedure proposed by Wagner and Wriggers [2] has been adapted for the continuum‐atomistics and modified.

The purpose of this paper is to study the Hölder calmness of solutions to equilibrium problems and apply it to economics.

The authors obtain the Hölder calmness by using an effective approach. More precisely, under the key assumption of strong convexity, sufficient conditions for the Hölder continuity of solution maps to equilibrium problems are established.

A new result in stability analysis for equilibrium problems and applications in economics is archived.

The authors confirm that the paper has not been published previously, is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and is not being simultaneously submitted elsewhere.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency of a series network system with undesirable and unreturnable simultaneously.

The research was conducted by applying data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to measure the efficiency score of a system and substages with an undesirable output of the second and third stages separately. For each case, new production technology was introduced, and based on them, novel DEA models were proposed.

One of the most important issues in the development of a country is the banking industry. In this study, 51 branches of commercial banks as a three-stage system with undesirable and unreturnable outputs in the second stage are considered. Then, the efficiency of each branch and substages is measured by using proposed models.

The efficiency of a three-stage network in the presence of undesirable and unreturnable outputs was assessed. In this model, Kousmanen’s technology was used.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the main measures of inconsistency in the context of intertemporal choice and to identify the relationships between them (more specifically, the measures by Prelec, Takahashi and Rohde). In effect, Thaler (1981), awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics 2017, argued that when a preference must be expressed between two reward options, some people may reverse their original preference when a significant delay is introduced before the reward is to be received. This anomaly is known as inconsistency in intertemporal choice.

After a revision of the existing literature and by using the methods from mathematical calculus, the authors have derived the logical relationships between the measures presented in this paper.

The main contribution of this paper is the proposal of a novel parameter, the so-defined ratio of two instantaneous discount rates, which the authors call the instantaneous variation rate, which allows relating some other measures of inconsistency, namely the measures described by Prelec and Rohde. A limitation of this paper is the unavailability of empirical information about the inconsistency measures needed to substantiate the theoretical findings. Indeed, this paper has social implications because recent behavioral and neuroeconomic studies have shown the existence of preference reversal or time inconsistency in other areas. The authors’ models can be implemented in these fields in order to better analyze the situations of inconsistency.

The originality of this paper lies in the authors’ aim to bring some order to the proposed measures of inconsistency which have arisen as a result of the different approaches adopted.

In this chapter we concentrate at the most popular model for convertible bond (CB) valuation in a one-factor, stochastic underlying stock price setting. Through the last decade, the Tsiveriotis–Fernandes model (1998) has become a widely commented model that involves the state of default of the issuer of the CB. A routine approach to the solution of this model is the usage of methods of finite difference schemes (FDS). However, for many people trained in finance these methods are not very intuitive and they tend to ignore them and prefer to use binomial-tree approach as more intuitive technique. For that reason, our primary focus is to highlight the answer of the so far unanswered question: Does the binomial-tree approach to CBs provide accurate pricing, hedging, and risk assessment? We show on a set of representative examples that by using binomial-tree methodology one is unable to provide a consistent analysis of the pricing, hedging, and risk assessment. We start the chapter with the basics of CBs and CB market. We then explain the implementation of TF model within binary-tree approach. We conclude the chapter with performance valuation of binomial-tree approach showing unexpected behavior in practice areas such as pricing (profile of CB's price versus underlying stock price), hedging (performance of CB's delta, gamma, and convertible arbitrage strategy versus underlying stock), and risk assessment (Monte Carlo VaR with respect to the underlying).

This chapter introduces a model of efficiency-wage competition along the lines put forward by Hahn (1987). Specifically, I analyze a two-firm economy in which employers screen their workforce by means of increasing wage offers competing one another for high-quality employees. The main results are the following. First, using a specification of effort such that the problem of firms is well-behaved, optimal wage offers are strategic complements. Second, the symmetric Nash equilibrium can be locally stable under the assumption that firms adjust their wage offers in the direction of increasing profits by conjecturing that any wage offer above (below) equilibrium will lead competitors to underbid (overbid) such an offer. Finally, the exploration of possible labor market equilibria reveals that effort is counter-cyclical.

The purpose of this paper is to express the strategic positioning of a firm among its rivals based on an overall analysis. The proposed model uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to determine the indexes due to cost leadership and differentiation. The model can be useful to identify the true cost leaders and those who are stuck in the middle. This work suggests the way how the strategic position can be explored from the consumption of resources (unlike the prevalent models like Banker et al., 2014).

Depending on the previous surveys, two inputs (spending per student and percentage of non-poor income group) and two outputs (average scores attained by students in science group and in language group in six private schools, located within the outskirt of Durgapur) were analyzed.

The classification made on the basis of the result of the proposed model reveals that out of the six schools (A, B, C, D, E and F), A, E and F occupy a strong position in this context, whereas B can be an example of stuck in the middle scenario. It not only has to reduce cost by 30 percent but also improve the differentiation index by 140 percent. C and D are lagging behind as they do not have enough differentiating qualities.

Only six schools were taken for the analysis. Second, the input and output vectors had to be non-negative. In case of a negative input (output) set, separate treatment must be applied to them before the application of non-central PCA. Any decision-making unit producing an output of 0 will prohibit the use of the non-central PCA.

The extant study provides the indices to measure cost leadership and differentiation strategies for the classification as per the generic strategies. A firm which is lagging behind can adjust its consumption to remain successful.

According to Hillman and Jenkner (2002), the developing countries lack the willingness of a primary school to impart education to children. The current study is used to explore whether any private primary school has the same goal or not. They also pointed out the possible future consequences while stating that the cost of educating children from the poorer section might be outweighed by the cost of not educating them and adults lacking basic skills had greater difficulty in finding well-paying jobs to escape poverty. So it is important to understand the role of a private primary school to offer seats to underprivileged students for educating them. The intention of six private primary schools toward educating the population of the small area within Durgapur is analyzed in this study, The study revealed that few schools spend more to serve the students belonging to upper classes to remain successful, whereas few schools as a differentiator make conscious attempts for providing services to poorer sections in an economical manner like a cost leader.

The extant research aims to formulate the determining methods of identifying strategic groups (proposed by Hunt, 1983) to make a parity between business definition view and strategic type concepts. The model can assess the rivals within an industry to explore the true cost leaders and those who are stuck in the middle using DEA. There are not enough kinds of literature which could effectively measure them.

In this paper the problem of the dynamic optimal time‐energy Off‐Line programming of an autonomous mobile robot in a crowded environment is considered. First, kinematic model and planning are presented. Then a dynamic model based on Euler‐Lagrange formalism is developed and a mobility estimation function of the robot is considered. This dynamic estimation of the robot mobility takes into account of the velocity and the orientation of the robot. Then the scene structuration and a path finder algorithm are developed. After, the optimal dynamic off‐line programming is formulated as a nonlinear programming problem under nonlinear equality and inequality constraints. The Discrete Augmented Lagrangian (DAL) is used to obtain the optimal trajectograhy. We develop an extended DAL to DALAP, DALAdaptive Penalty. RoboSim 1.0 simulator is developed to perform kinematic and DALAP based algorithms on a large class of mobile robots optimal time‐energy off‐line programming. A comparative study with kinematic planning is considered. It is shown that the performance of the dynamic optimal time‐energy control and off‐line programming is much better than kinematic and heuristic based schemes. This strategy of trajectory planning was implemented on the case study of the SARA mobile robot model.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of operating leverage, and the subsequent abandonment option available to managers, on the relationship between corporate earnings and optimal financial leverage, thereby providing an alternative (rational) explanation for the observed negative relationship between these two quantities.

Working in a dynamic capital structure setting, where corporate earnings are modelled as an exogenous stochastic process, the paper explicitly adds fixed operating costs to the firm's value optimisation. This introduces a degree of operating leverage (DOL) and a non-zero value to the implicit abandonment option of the firm's manager. Solving for the firm's optimal timing and financing decisions the paper is able to derive the relationship between current corporate earnings and optimal financial leverage for a large class of earnings uncertainty assumptions. The theoretical implications are then tested empirically using a large selection of S&P 500 firms.

The analysis reveals that the manager's flexibility to abandon the project introduces nonlinearities into the valuation that are sufficient to reconcile the trade-off theory with the empirically observed negative earnings/financial leverage relationship. The paper further finds theoretical and empirical evidence of a positive relationship between operating and financial leverage.

Previous studies have used mean-reverting earnings as an explanation for the observed negative earnings/financial leverage relationship in a trade-off theory setting. The paper shows that the relationship does not need to be process specific. Instead, it is a direct result of the financial flexibility of managers.

Existing empirical evidence on the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration on momentum portfolios is limited. The combination of the two is relevant given the risk-mitigating effect of ESG criteria, as well as the existence of momentum crashes. As such, ESG might lend itself to reduce crash risk for momentum investors.

In this paper, the authors provide insight into the impact of an ESG-constrained investment universe on momentum returns. The overall investment universe is split into high and low ESG-rated segments to anylse the characteristics of momentum portfolios conditional on the ESG rating.

The authors document the existence of a momentum premium across European stocks and for a subset of high and lows ESG-rated stocks. However, absolute returns of momentum strategies are significantly lower if momentum strategies are pursued on a subset of high ESG stocks. Additionally, findings document a risk-mitigation effect of ESG for momentum portfolios with significantly lower returns for momentum portfolios based on low ESG stocks during periods of momentum crashes.

Research on momentum investing and the momentum premium is large and well established, yet many questions remain. A recent study by Daniel and Moskowitz (2016) has analyzed crash risk for momentum investors and identified periods of strong momentum crashes. On the other hand, the literature on ESG integration in standing investment approaches is still limited, but as demand for sustainable products is increasing, so is the demand for a better understanding of the impact of ESG integration. Consequently, the authors provide evidence on the benefits of ESG integration for momentum investors to reduce their exposure to momentum crash risk.