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A large number of microprocessors (μPs) have been widely used in many practical fields and the demand for improvement of their reliabilities have recently increased. Watchdog processors (WDPs) are small and simple coprocessors that can detect errors by monitoring the behavior of μPs. This paper formulates three reliability models of μP systems with WDPs: model 1 considers the system where a main processor (MPu) has n WDPs with self checking. Next, model 2 considers the system with upper limit number of resets. Further, model 3 discusses the system with limit processing time. The expected costs of each model are derived and the optimal policies which minimize them are discussed analytically. Finally, the numerical examples are given.

Monetary policy has major impacts on macroeconomic indicators of the country. Accordingly, uncertainty regarding monetary policy shifts can cause challenges and risks for businesses, financial markets and investors. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate how real estate market volatility responds to monetary policy uncertainty.

The GARCH-MIDAS model is applied in this study to investigate the nexus between monetary policy uncertainty and real estate market volatility. This model was fundamentally instituted to accommodate low-frequency variables.

The results of this study reveal that increased monetary policy uncertainty highly affects the volatility in real estate market during the peak period of COVID-19 as compared to full sample period and COVID-19 recovery period; hence, a significant decline is evident in real estate market volatility during crisis.

This study is particularly focused on peak and recovery period of COVID-19 considering the geographical region of Greece, Japan and the USA. This study provides a complete perspective on the nexus between monetary policy uncertainty and real estate markets volatility in three distinct economic views.

This chapter examines changes in US monetary policy uncertainty (ΔMPU) and fiscal policy uncertainty (ΔFPU) on stock returns while controlling for downside risk, lagged dividend yield, and time series patterns. Testing G7 markets consistently shows that both ΔMPU and ΔFPU have significant negative impacts on stock returns. Evidence shows that any downside risk, ΔMPU or ΔFPU in US market will soon be transmitted to G6 industrial markets and the impacts are extended to two months. These risk and uncertainty premiums should be priced in the stocks of the major industrial markets.

This paper aims to examine the impact that monetary policy uncertainty (MPU) has on stock market returns by taking into account limits to arbitrage and the economic cycle.

Using four news-based MPU measures, regression models have been applied in this study over a sample period from January 1985 to March 2020. The limits to arbitrage have been considered by taking Russell 1000 Value, Russell 1000 Growth, Russell 2000 Value and Russell 2000 Growth indices, and business cycles were established following the National Bureau of Economic Research.

A negative MPU impact on stock returns has been found. In particular, the most subjective and difficult to arbitrate stocks have been more sensitive to MPU. However, it could not be concluded that MPU has a greater or lesser impact on stock returns depending on the economic cycle.

The findings obtained are particularly useful for monetary policymakers showing the importance and need for greater control over the transparency of their decisions to maintain the stability of financial markets. The findings obtained are also useful for investors when selecting their investment assets at times of the highest MPU.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the few studies investigating the effect of MPU on stock market returns, and the first to analyse this relationship taking into account the economic cycle and limits to arbitrage.

The aim of this paper is to examine the effect of talent management (TM) practices on employee performance (EP) among academic staff of Malaysian private universities (MPU) through employee engagement (EE).

This paper used both descriptive and quantitative approaches, while the research unit of analysis consists of MPU academic staff. A simple random and stratified sampling approach was utilized in this study while, the research sample consists of 314 MPU academic staff. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the target population, while partial least squares–structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the study hypotheses through a bootstrapping approach.

This paper results demonstrated that TM practices (succession planning practice, promotion practice and performance appraisal practice) have a significant effect on EP, while EE mediates the relationship between TM practices and EP in MPU.

This paper encourages university management to adopt and invest in TM practices for effective EE to achieve and sustain EP.

This paper has made a significant contribution to knowledge and to the operationalization of EE, EP and TM practices literature, which could help to develop theory, model, practice and research in areas of work performance.

This study aims to investigate the dynamic interconnectedness of economic policy uncertainty (EPU), fiscal policy uncertainty (FPU) and monetary policy uncertainty (MPU) in four nations, the USA, Japan, Greece and South Korea, between 1998 and 2021.

To comprehend the cross-category/cross-country evolution of uncertainty connectedness, the authors use the conditional connectedness approach. By using an inclusive network, this strategy lessens the bias caused by omitted variables. The TVP-VAR method is advantageous as it eliminates outliers that may potentially skew the results and reduces the bias caused by picking arbitrary rolling windows.

Based on the findings, aggregate EPU is a net transmitter of policy uncertainties across all countries when conditional-country connectedness is used. MPU receives significantly more spillovers than FPU does across all countries, even though both are primarily recipients of uncertainties. The USA appears to be a transmitter of categorical spillovers before COVID-19, while Greece appears to be a net receiver of all category spillovers in terms of category-specific connectedness. The existence of extreme global events is also seen to cause an increase in category-specific and country-specific connectedness. Additionally, the authors report that conditional country-specific connectedness is greater than conditional category-specific connectedness.

This study expands existing literature in several ways. Firstly, the authors use a novel conditional connectedness approach, which has not been used to untangle cross-category/cross-country policy uncertainty connectedness. Secondly, they use the TVP-VAR approach which does not depend on rolling windows to understand dynamic connectedness. Thirdly, they use an expanded number of countries in their analysis, a departure from existing studies that have in most cases used two countries to understand categorical EPU connectedness.

The authors propose novel tests for the detection of Markov switching deviations from forecast rationality. Existing forecast rationality tests either focus on constant deviations from forecast rationality over the full sample or are constructed to detect smooth deviations based on non-parametric techniques. In contrast, the proposed tests are parametric and have an advantage in detecting abrupt departures from unbiasedness and efficiency, which the authors demonstrate with Monte Carlo simulations. Using the proposed tests, the authors investigate whether Blue Chip Financial Forecasts (BCFF) for the Federal Funds Rate (FFR) are unbiased. The tests find evidence of a state-dependent bias: forecasters tend to systematically overpredict interest rates during periods of monetary easing, while the forecasts are unbiased otherwise. The authors show that a similar state-dependent bias is also present in market-based forecasts of interest rates, but not in the forecasts of real GDP growth and GDP deflator-based inflation. The results emphasize the special role played by monetary policy in shaping interest rate expectations above and beyond macroeconomic fundamentals.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate opportunities and challenges for multi-professional paramedic-firefighter units in small municipalities in Finland.

The data were collected by means of four focus group interviews conducted with managers (N =12) and a questionnaire comprising open-ended questions for the personnel working in the units (n =73). Data from both sources were analyzed using inductive content analysis.

The empirical results suggest that the use of multi-professional units (MPUs) may be one means of providing a better standard of service in rural areas. However, the working practices and different professional backgrounds in MPUs are considered challenging by the personnel. Managers had a broader perspective; during the interviews they raised matters such as citizen characteristics, legal issues like varying working hours, and economic aspects. Both the personnel and the managers agreed on the strengths and weaknesses of the MPU model in principle.

The results of this study may clarify the opportunities and challenges posed by MPUs in rural areas from the perspectives of personnel and managers.

The study provides novel information on MPUs comprising paramedics and firefighters, who function at the interface of emergency medical services and rescue services and who have new tasks in rural areas, including home healthcare support and accident prevention.

This study finds evidence that a stock return is inversely correlated with downside risk, confirming a pattern of risk-aversion behavior. Evidence from testing a stock return's response to a change in economic policy uncertainty indicates a significantly negative effect in the Chinese stock market; this conclusion holds true for testing the impacts of changes in fiscal and monetary policy uncertainties. However, the data produce a mixed effect for the change in fiscal policy uncertainty. The evidence produced from examining the geopolitical effect on the stock market strongly supports the presence of an adverse effect on stock market performance.