Search Results (9)

This paper studies the informational hierarchy of individual stocks in the Colombian Stock Exchange (BVC), with particular attention to the role of cross-listed securities. The paper addresses a gap in the literature on small emerging markets, where evidence on intra-market information and return transmission remains scarce, particularly in the presence of illiquidity, cross-listing, and external risk exposure. Using daily data for 2015–2024, we estimate a five-asset vector autoregression VAR (3) with exogenous global controls and compute generalized forecast error variance decompositions within the Diebold–Yilmaz connectedness framework, with residual-bootstrap inference and CBOE Volatility Index (VIX)-based regime analysis. The VIX regimes are used to distinguish low-, medium-, and high-global-risk environments because global risk appetite is a key channel through which external shocks affect emerging equity markets. Three results stand out. First, total connectedness is moderate in the full sample, at 25.2%, but rises sharply with global risk, from 17.5% in low-VIX periods to 28.4% in high-VIX periods. Second, Ecopetrol’s American Depositary Receipt listed on the New York Stock Exchange (EC, NYSE) emerges as the dominant net transmitter of return innovations, and its informational leadership becomes stronger as global uncertainty increases. Third, when the local Ecopetrol share is excluded, leadership shifts to Bancolombia’s ADR (CIB), suggesting that directional spillover leadership is associated not only with firm identity but also with the offshore trading venue. These findings document a regime-dependent and venue-driven informational hierarchy, consistent with ADR-listed securities acting as dominant transmitters of return innovations to the domestic Colombian equity system. For portfolio managers, the results imply that diversification across local Colombian equities may overstate the number of independent information sources, especially during high-risk periods, and that monitoring ADRs, global volatility, oil prices, and exchange-rate conditions may improve hedging and risk management. Full article

Tunnel point cloud semantic segmentation is a critical step in achieving refined perception and intelligent management of tunnel structures. Addressing common challenges including indistinct boundaries and fine-grained category discrimination, this paper proposes MFPNet, a multi-scale feature perception network specifically designed for tunnel scenarios. This approach employs kernel convolution to effectively model local point cloud geometries within continuous spaces. Building upon this foundation, an error-feedback-based local-global feature fusion mechanism is designed. Through bidirectional information exchange, higher-level semantic information compensates for and constrains lower-level geometric features, thereby mitigating information fragmentation across semantic hierarchies. Furthermore, an adaptive feature re-calibration and cross-scale contextual correlation mechanism is introduced to dynamically modulate multi-scale feature responses. This explicitly models contextual dependencies across scales, enabling collaborative aggregation and discriminative enhancement of multi-scale semantic information. Experimental results on tunnel point cloud datasets demonstrate that the proposed MFPNet has achieved significant improvements in both overall segmentation accuracy and category balance, with mIoU reaching 87.5%, which is 5.1% to 33.0% higher than mainstream methods such as PointNet++ and RandLA-Net, and the overall classification accuracy reaching 96.3%. These results validate the method’s efficacy in achieving high-precision three-dimensional semantic understanding within complex tunnel environments, providing robust technical support for tunnel digital twin and intelligent detection applications. Full article

This research examines the impact of five crucial factors underlying human resource management (HRM), namely, compensation, transformational leadership, motivation, and job satisfaction on sustainable employees’ performance in Lebanese family companies. The research is founded on Social Exchange Theory, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, and Transformational Leadership Theory. Based on a cross-sectional design and quantitative approach, data were collected from 511 full-time employees working for family-owned businesses in Lebanon via structured questionnaires. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using SmartPLS-4 was used to analyze the relationships among the variables. The results point out that job satisfaction, motivation, and the transformational leadership style meaningfully impact employees’ performance. Compensation had a slight yet statistically significant effect. Furthermore, the work environment was found to have both a direct influence on performance and a moderating effect on the relationships between job satisfaction, transformational leadership style, and employees’ outcomes. These outcomes provide theoretical contributions to the literature on HRM in family-owned enterprises and deliver practical insights for improving employees’ performance through targeted HR strategies in emerging economies. The present study concludes by highlighting the role of a supportive environment at work and participative leadership in enhancing performance outcomes, mostly in culturally complex and intergenerational business settings. Full article

Religious clothing serves as the external manifestation of religious culture, and its evolutionary process not only reflects the developmental trajectory of religion but also demonstrates cultural exchange and social transformation in specific historical periods. This study focuses on the localization and evolution of Chinese Buddhism monks’ robes as its research subject. Through analyzing historical documents, archaeological materials, and artistic works, it explores the transformation process from Indian Kasaya to Chinese Haiqing 海青 (Chinese Buddhist Ceremonial Robe) and its cultural implications. The research findings reveal that the localization process of Chinese Buddhism monks’ robes exhibits characteristics of gradual Cultural Adaptation: while maintaining the core of Buddhist doctrine, it achieved organic integration with traditional Chinese culture through systematic reconstruction of material forms. This is specifically manifested in three aspects: formal adaptation responding to environmental constraints, the integration of craftsmanship and materials embodying cultural dialogue, and the color hierarchy system reflecting the dynamic interplay between secular power and religious authority. This process facilitated the reconstruction of monks’ multidimensional Identity Reconstruction—forming a new balance model among religious transcendence, cultural belonging, and social participation. This study provides a theoretical framework for understanding the internal logic of religious localization and the adaptive mechanisms of Cross-cultural Communication. Full article

Reverse Logistics (RL) plays a fundamental role in supply by addressing returns, undelivered or damaged products, exchanges, and environmental concerns, directly contributing to more sustainable supply chain practices. Although firms recognize the importance and benefits of this concept, their supply chain remains focused on direct logistics, often overlooking RL’s potential to enhance sustainability performance. The aim of this article is to analyse the interaction between the barriers that challenge or prevent the implementation of RL in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). First, a literature review identified 22 barriers to developing RL in SMEs. Then, through experts’ opinions gathered in a Focus Group (FG), an Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) model was used to understand the hierarchy relations between barriers, and a Matrix Cross Impact Matrix Multiplication (MICMAC) analysis was carried out to aggregate the barriers in four categories according to their influencing power and dependence. Applying the methodology to the Portuguese case resulted in an ISM model with seven hierarchical levels and a MICMAC diagram without dependent barriers. Moreover, six key barriers emerged, namely, Lack of adequate organizational structure and support for RL practices, Lack of corporate social responsibility, Complexity of the operation, Lack of shared understanding of best practices, Difficulty with members of the supply chain, and Lack of support from supply chain players, which proved to be the most critical as they are positioned at the highest hierarchical levels of the ISM model and fall within the independent variable quadrant of the MICMAC analysis, thus revealing a strong driving power over the other barriers. The findings highlight that overcoming these barriers is crucial for SMEs to unlock the full sustainability potential of RL and transition towards supply chain models that are greener through a reduced carbon footprint, improved resource efficiency, and the adoption of circular economy practices. Academically, this research advances the literature by applying the ISM–MICMAC approach to SMEs, offering novel insights into the structural role of barriers in reverse logistics implementation. Full article

The need for integrated governance of water–energy–land–food (WELF) systems has become paramount in achieving sustainable low-carbon transitions, yet policy consistency across these interdependent sectors remains critically underexplored. This study presents the first systematic assessment of policy consistency and synergy within China’s WELF framework, employing an innovative mixed-methods approach that combines a modified Policy Modeling Consistency (PMC) Index with Content Analysis Methodology (CAM). Policy consistency follows a clear hierarchy: energy (PMC = 9.06, ‘Perfect’), water (8.26, ‘Good’), land (7.03, ‘Acceptable’), and food systems (6.91, ‘Acceptable’), with land–food policies exhibiting critical gaps in multifunctional design. Policy synergy metrics further reveal pronounced sectoral disparities: energy (PS = 0.89) and water (0.81) policies demonstrate strong alignment with central government objectives, whereas land (0.68) and food (0.64) systems exhibit constrained integration capacities due to uncoordinated policy architectures and competing sectoral priorities. Building on these findings, we propose three key interventions: (1) institutional restructuring through the establishment of an inter-ministerial coordination body with binding authority to align WELF sector priorities and enforce consistent and synergy targets, (2) the strategic rebalancing of policy instruments by reallocating fiscal incentives toward nexus-optimizing projects while developing innovative market-based mechanisms for cross-sectoral resource exchange, and (3) adaptive governance implementation through regional policy pilots, dynamic feedback systems, and capacity-building networks to enable context-sensitive WELF transitions while maintaining strategic consistency and synergy. These recommendations directly address the structural deficiencies in WELF governance fragmentation and incentive misalignment identified through our rigorous analysis, while simultaneously advancing theoretical discourse and offering implementable policy solutions for achieving integrated low-carbon transition. Full article

Cities are progressively heightening their climate aspirations to curtail urban carbon emissions and establish a future where economies and communities can flourish within the Earth’s ecological limits. Consequently, numerous climate initiatives are being launched to control urban carbon emissions, targeting various sectors, including transport, residential, agricultural, and energy. However, recent scientific literature underscores the disproportionate distribution of climate policies. While cities in the Global North have witnessed several initiatives to combat climate change, cities in the Global South remain uncovered and highly vulnerable to climate hazards. To address this disparity, we employed the Balanced Iterative Reducing and Clustering using the Hierarchies (BRICH) algorithm to cluster cities from diverse geographical areas that exhibit comparable socioeconomic profiles. This clustering strives to foster enhanced cooperation and collaboration among cities globally, with the goal of addressing climate change in a comprehensive manner. In summary, we identified similarities, patterns, and clusters among peer cities, enabling mutual and generalizable learning among worldwide peer-cities regarding urban climate policy exchange. This exchange occurs through three approaches: (i) inner-mutual learning, (ii) cross-mutual learning, and (iii) outer-mutual learning. Our findings mark a pivotal stride towards attaining worldwide climate objectives through a shared responsibility approach. Furthermore, they provide preliminary insights into the implementation of “urban climate policy exchange” among peer cities on a global scale. Full article

Spatial planning holds a key role in preventing or mitigating the impacts of climate change on both cities and rural areas, taking a forward-thinking and holistic approach to urban and regional development. As such, spatial planning deals with challenges occurring at different scales and across sectors. The international literature points out the need for horizontal and vertical cooperation to tackle climate change impacts. This paper discusses the general challenges for climate proofing across planning levels, sectors, and areas and provides a systematic overview of challenges that would affect an integrative theoretical framework for climate proofing. Based on the latter, the study ultimately aims at presenting a novel theoretical framework for Climate Proofing specific to spatial planning involving a multi-sectoral perspective. An iterative process was used for conceptual development, based on a literature review followed by external feedback meetings with the core team of planning experts responsible for exchange across federal states and two workshops with focus groups of experts of planning departments responsible for federal, regional, and local spatial planning. Implementation and further development of the framework are planned as the second phase of this study. By specifically addressing the challenges relating to cross-regional and cross-sectoral planning, this novel framework attempts to discuss the (i) consideration of the hierarchy of climate proofing measures through enhanced vertical and horizontal cooperation as well as the (ii) long-term institutionalisation of integrative planning processes across planning borders. It attempts also to (iii) foster the consideration of co-benefits for joint adaptation purposes and climate change mitigation through encouraging multi-disciplinary perspectives Full article

Chemical affinity involves the integration of two different types of interaction. One is the interaction operating between a pair of reactants while forming a chemical bond, and the other is the prior interaction between those reactants when they identify a reaction partner. The context of the environments under which chemical reactions proceed is identified by the interaction of the participating chemical reactants themselves unless the material process of internal measurement is substituted by theoretical artifacts in the form of imposed boundary conditions, as in the case, for example, of thermal equilibrium. The identification-interaction specific to each local participant serves as a preparation for the making of chemical bonds. The identification-interaction is intrinsically selective in precipitating those chemical bonds that are synthesized most rapidly among possible reactions. Once meta-stable products appear that mediate chemical syntheses and their partial decompositions without totally decomposing, those products would become selective because of their ongoing participation in the identification-interaction. One important natural example must have been the origin and evolution of life on Earth. Full article