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The purpose of this paper is to estimate the mean life expectancy (LE) and the expected years of life lost (EYLL) for ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage.

This retrospective cohort study included 5,210 patients with a diagnosis of first ischemic stroke or intracerebral hemorrhage between 2005 and 2013 from Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. The survival of each case was followed until December 31, 2016. A semiparametric extrapolation method was applied to estimate the lifetime survival function relative to an age and sex-matched reference population.

Of 5,210 patients, 74.2 percent experienced ischemic stroke. About 54.3 percent were men. Mean age at diagnosis was 64.3 years. The mean LE was 12.5 years for ischemic stroke and 12.0 years for intracerebral hemorrhage. The EYLL among patients with intracerebral hemorrhage was significantly higher than among those with ischemic stroke (10.1 vs 5.7). Women were expected to lose more LE than men for both types of stroke (p-value<0.05), while younger aged patients were expected to lose more years of life than older ones.

This study fulfilled an identified need to estimate LE and EYLL among patients with ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage.

This paper investigates why bancassurance coexists with alternative insurance distribution channels in the long run, considering the bank channel is known to involve lower costs than traditional distribution systems. It tests the product-quality hypothesis that maintains that the higher costs of some distribution systems represent expenses associated with producing higher product quality, greater service intensity and/or skills to solve principal-agent conflicts.

An analysis is conducted on firms operating in the life segment of the Spanish insurance industry over an eight-year sample period. First, the author estimates cost efficiency and profit inefficiency using data envelopment analysis. Cost efficiency enables one to evaluate if the use of the banking channel increases cost efficiency. Profit inefficiency is addressed to identify the existence/absence of product-quality differences. The performance implications of using bancassurance are analyzed by applying Heckman's two-stage random-effects regression model.

The results support the product-quality arguments. The use of banking channel was found to increase cost efficiency. However, the distribution channel/s utilized did not affect profit inefficiency.

A regulatory environment that supports the development of bancassurance enables this and alternative distribution channels to be sorted into market niches, where each system enjoys comparative advantages in order to minimize insurer costs and maximize insurer revenues. There is no single optimal insurance distribution system.

This is the first study to investigate why bancassurance coexists with alternative insurance distribution channels.

This paper investigates if investors consider legal insider trading data while making investment decisions. If any investment decision is based on insider transactions, then it will result in abnormal stock characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to investigate if insider trading affects stock characteristics like price, return and volume. The paper further investigates the effect on stock characteristics after the trade of different types of insiders and the relationship between abnormal return and abnormal volume.

The study uses the event study method to measure the abnormal price, return and volume. Two-stage least square regression is used to investigate the relationship between abnormal return and abnormal volume.

The insider trades affect price, return and volume. The results are identical for both buy and sell transactions. The trades of different types of insiders have diverse effects on stock characteristics. The trades of substantial shareholders give rise to the highest abnormal price and return, whereas the promoters' trades result in the highest abnormal volume. No relationship is detected between abnormal return and volume.

A novel method to calculate the abnormal price is proposed. The effect of trading of all types of insiders on stock characteristics is analyzed. The relationship between abnormal return and abnormal volume, after an insider trade, is investigated.

The study aims to examine the relationships among personality traits (i.e. the Big Five personality traits and locus of control), self-perceived facial attractiveness, motivations (i.e. intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) and intention toward live stream broadcasting. It also investigates the moderating role of perceived behavioral control in the relationship between motivations and intention.

Data collected from a sample of 637 participants are used to examine the research model and test the hypotheses with the employment of partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The study shows that motivations and perceived behavioral control are significant predictors of intention. Perceived behavioral control has a significant moderating effect between motivations and intention. Intrinsic motivation is positively influenced by self-perceived facial attractiveness, agreeableness, extraversion and internal locus of control, while extrinsic motivation is positively predicted by self-perceived facial attractiveness, conscientiousness and extraversion.

This study enhances our understanding of the determinants of intention toward live stream broadcasting by exploring its relationships with motivations, self-perceived facial attractiveness and personality, as well as the moderating effects of perceived behavioral control.

The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the increasing importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in smart tourism destinations, in their integration in the activity of the tourism companies, and in their interaction with visitors/tourists. In summary, it is intended to evaluate in the city of Porto how the use of technology before, during and after the visit influences the tourist experience.

The authors empirically investigate the importance of using ICTs during tourism experience, assess the access/availability of ICT at the destination and its importance in tourist’s decisions. It is analyzed if the applications and/or information available on the internet are important and positively influence the tourism experience in Porto, that is, the degree of tourist satisfaction. The empirical evidence is based on a quantitative analysis, using a data set involving 423 tourists in the city of Porto.

The importance of the internet access at the destination, especially in places like airports and hotels, since most tourists are primarily using their mobile devices and computers during the trip, and the existing information technologies available in the destination (internet, smartphones or other mobile devices and applications) are considered very important in explaining tourists’ experience.

This study identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the technological strategies, providing useful information for destination management, discussing innovation in tourism, and proposing a framework that empirically evaluates how technological components used in smart tourism destinations can improve tourists’ experiences.

Many studies have analysed the impact of various variables on the ability of companies to raise capital. While most of these studies are sector-agnostic, literature on the effects of macroeconomic variables on sectors that established over the last 20 years like property technology and financial technology, is scarce. This study aims to identify macroeconomic factors that influence the ability of both sectors and is extended by real estate variables.

The impact of macroeconomic and real estate related factors is analysed using multiple linear regression and quantile regression. The sample covers 338 observations for PropTech and 595 for FinTech across 18 European countries and 5 deal types between 2000–2001 with each observation representing the capital invested per year for each deal type and country.

Besides confirming a significant impact of macroeconomic variables on the amount of capital invested, this study finds that additionally the real estate transaction volume positively impacts PropTech while the real estate yield-bond-gap negatively impacts FinTech.

For PropTech and FinTech companies and their investors it is critical to understand the dynamic with mac-ro variables and also the real estate industry. The direct connection identified in this paper is critical for a holistic understanding of the effects of measurable real estate variables on capital investments into both sectors.

The analysis fills the gap in the literature between variables affecting investment into firms and effects of the real estate industry on the investment activity into PropTech and FinTech.

This paper investigates the usage and trust of Chinese social media in the travel planning process (pre-trip, during-trip and post-trip) of Chinese tourists.

Through a combination of structured online survey (n = 406) and follow-up interviews, the research identifies the diversification of the demand-and-supply patterns of social media users in China, as well as the allocation of functions of social media as tools before, during and after travel.

Social media users are diverse in terms of their adoption of social media, use behaviour and scope; the levels of trust and influence; and their ultimate travel decisions and actions. Correlations between the level of trust, influence of social media and the intended changes in travel decisions are observed. Destination marketers and tourism industries should observe and adapt to the needs of social media users and potential tourist markets by understanding more about user segmentation between platforms or apps and conducting marketing campaigns on social media platforms to attract a higher number of visitors.

This paper demonstrated the case of social media usage in mainland China, which has been regarded as one of the fastest growing and influential tourist-generating markets and social media expansions in the world. This study further addressed the knowledge gap by correlating social media usage and travel planning process of Chinese tourists. The research findings suggested diversification of the demand-and-supply pattern of social media users in China, as well as the use of social media as tools before, during and after travel. Users were diversified in terms of their adoption of social media, use behaviour, scope, the levels of trust, influence and the ultimate travel decisions.

Destination marketing organizations should note that some overseas social media platforms that are not accessible in China like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Facebook and Instagram are still valued by some Chinese tourists, especially during-trip period in journeys to Western countries. Some tactics for specific user segments should be carefully observed. When promoting specific tourism products to Chinese tourists, it is necessary to understand the user segmentation between platforms or apps.

Social media is a powerful tool for tourism development and sustainability in creating smart tourists and destinations worldwide. In China, the use of social media has stimulated the development of both information and communication technology and tourism.

This study aims to examine the co-creation of customer experiences at different levels in service ecosystems, analyzing the case of a tourist destination.

A questionnaire was designed based on previously validated scales. The questionnaire was distributed through the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. The survey yielded 1,476 valid responses for three types of destinations. Structural equation modeling and multigroup analysis were performed to test the hypotheses.

Aggregate service experience and memorable customer experience (MCE) in service ecosystems are determined by customer experiences at a dyadic level. Service experience at the ecosystem level is formed from ordinary experiences at the actor level, while MCE is formed from extraordinary experiences at the dyadic level. The type of ecosystem moderates the relationships between the variables but does not alter the importance of each of them.

The relationship between the co-creation of customer experiences at different levels of service ecosystems (dyadic vs aggregate) is addressed. A relationship is established between the ordinary and extraordinary character of experiences and their memorability at the ecosystem level.

With an increasing air cargo demand in the global air cargo transport industry, not only domestic airlines but also foreign carriers are actively investing in the air cargo service sector and trying to provide a differentiated service in order to gain a competitive advantage. There are a variety of service quality models available but most research to date has not found an optimal model for the air cargo service sector.

Using questionnaire data collected from air freight forwarders in Korea with respect to the air cargo service provided by Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, and foreign carriers(JAL or China Eastern), this paper compares four models in measuring the service quality in the air cargo sector and identifies the best model. We then analyze the weakness of each airline’s service operation and make suggestions for improvement.

For demonstration analysis, the survey of domestic air cargo forwarders revealed that Reliability>Responsiveness> Supply ability>Security in important order in air cargo service quality dimension. In the context of this paper, we considered four models-unweighted SERVQUAL, unweighted SERVPERF, weighted SERVQUAL, and weighted SERVPERF–for our investigation into which is the most suitable model in the air cargo service sector with testing of goodness of fit by three criteria. Our results indicate that the most suitable model for the air cargo service sector is the weighted SERVPERF model.

Large displacement misalignment under the action of active faults can cause complex three-dimensional deformation in subway tunnels, resulting in severe damage, distortion and misalignment. There is no developed system of fortification and related codes to follow. There are scientific problems and technical challenges in this field that have never been encountered in past research and practices.

This paper adopted a self-designed large-scale active fault dislocation simulation loading system to conduct a similar model test of the tunnel under active fault dislocation based on the open-cut tunnel project of the Urumqi Rail Transit Line 2, which passes through the Jiujiawan normal fault. The test simulated the subway tunnel passing through the normal fault, which is inclined at 60°. This research compared and analyzed the differences in mechanical behavior between two types of lining section: the open-cut double-line box tunnel and the modified double-line box arch tunnel. The structural response and failure characteristics of the open-cut segmented lining of the tunnel under the stick-slip part of the normal fault were studied.

The results indicated that the double-line box arch tunnel improved the shear and longitudinal bending performance. Longitudinal cracks were mainly distributed in the baseplate, wall foot and arch foot, and the crack position was basically consistent with the longitudinal distribution of surrounding rock pressure. This indicated that the longitudinal cracks were due to the large local load of the cross-section of the structure, leading to an excessive local bending moment of the structure, which resulted in large eccentric failure of the lining and formation of longitudinal cracks. Compared with the ordinary box section tunnel, the improved double-line box arch tunnel significantly reduced the destroyed and damage areas of the hanging wall and footwall. The damage area and crack length were reduced by 39 and 59.3%, respectively. This indicates that the improved double-line box arch tunnel had good anti-sliding performance.

This paper adopted a self-designed large-scale active fault dislocation simulation loading system to conduct a similar model test of the tunnel under active fault dislocation. This system increased the similarity ratio of the test model, improved the dislocation loading rate and optimized the simulation scheme of the segmented flexible lining and other key factors affecting the test. It is of great scientific significance and engineering value to investigate the structure of subway tunnels under active fault misalignment, to study its force characteristics and damage modes, and to provide a technical reserve for the design and construction of subway tunnels through active faults.