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The purpose of this study is to specify cultural properties that influence inter-firm cooperation, advancing a conventional theoretical economic-based framework.

An evaluation of concepts related to parametric cultural assessment was the theoretical foundation for structural aspects of inter-firm collaboration, documented in an empirical study that investigates cross-cultural analysis. This study was based on research at a cross-national level, allowing cultural disparities to be captured. Therefore, the empirical basis was the sixth World Values Survey, which is the largest cross-national project for assessment of cultural values.

It was found that cultural properties, as freedom of choice; advancement of norms for equal dissemination of power; low perceived uncertainty; strategic orientation on the future; and spread norms of humanistic orientation would further develop inter-firm cooperation.

The current study specifies a systematic and practical definition of attributes in the culture of inter-firm collaboration. Advantages of such advanced frameworks are more sustainable collaboration models, decreased expenses of inter-firm coordination methods and possibilities for establishing network knowledge among collaborating firms – a necessity for competitive advantage in today’s global economy.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous research has been undertaken that specifies cultural properties influencing inter-firm cooperation, advancing a conventional theoretical economic-based framework.

Key international and intergovernmental organizations assess the size of the Roma population in Serbia to be around 4–600.000, rendering Serbia among the five countries in Europe with the highest percentage of Roma population. Although Roma in Serbia have a long history of self-organization, cultural and media organizations, and are formally recognized as national minorities with a National Council of the Roma National Minority as a body with political decision-making influence, the Roma community in Serbia, as in most other European countries, is the most disadvantaged and underprivileged group in the country, often living in underdeveloped neighbourhoods with limited access to social services, especially education and health.

The educational attainment of the Roma population in Serbia, as in other countries in Europe, is far below the attainment of the general population. The education indicators are showing a developing trend, albeit slow. Roma integration policies evolved in Serbia from the early 2000s in the general policy framework of Equity of Education and Inclusive Education and a comprehensive education reform agenda, promoted and legally endorsed by the 2009 Law on the Foundations of the Education System. As the consequence of such an approach, the Roma integration policies intertwined and mutually reinforced with other reform policy areas. The most important post-2000 policies supporting the integration of Roma students into education are the introduction of pedagogical assistants in elementary schools and preschool institutions as a profession, paid from the budget, abolishing the system of school readiness assessment, introducing individual education plans and intensifying affirmative action and scholarships for enrolment in secondary and tertiary education.

Active employment of additive manufacturing for scaffolds preparation requires the development of advanced methods which can accurately characterize the morphologic structure and its changes during an interaction of the scaffolds with substrate and aqueous medium. This paper aims to use the method of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging for preclinical characterization of 3D-printed scaffolds based on novel allyl chitosan biocompatible polymer matrices.

Biocompatible polymer scaffolds were fabricated via stereolithography method. Using NMR imaging the output quality control of the scaffolds was performed. Scaffolds stability, polymer matrix homogeneity, kinetic of swelling processes, water migration pathways within the 3D-printed parts, effect of post-print UV curing on overall scaffolds performance were studied in details.

NMR imaging visualization of water uptake and polymer swelling processes during the interaction of scaffolds with aqueous medium revealed the formation of the fronts within the polymer matrices those dynamics is governed by case I transport (Fickian diffusion) of the water into polymer network. No significant difference was observed in front propagation rates along the polymer layers and across the layers stack. After completing the swelling process, the polymer scaffolds retain their integrity and no internal defects were detected.

NMR imaging revealed that post-print UV curing aimed to improve the overall performance of 3D-printed scaffolds might not provide a better quality of the finish product, as this procedure apparently yield strongly inhomogeneous distribution of polymer crosslink density which results in subsequent inhomogeneity of water ingress and swelling processes, accompanied by stress-related cracks formation inside the scaffolds.

This study introduces a method which can successfully complement the standard tests which now are widely used in either additive manufacturing or scaffolds engineering.

This work can help to improve the overall performance of the polymer scaffolds used in tissue engineering.

The results of this study demonstrate feasibility of NMR imaging for preclinical characterization of 3D printed biocompatible polymer scaffolds. The results are believed to contribute to better understanding of the processes vital for improving the design of 3D-printed polymer scaffolds.

This paper explores how firms formed their expectations about the availability of bank finance since the financial crisis. Various expectations hypotheses that incorporate backward and/or forward-looking elements and inattention are tested. From a policy perspective, the most important hypothesis is whether policy announcements have a direct impact on the expectations of companies.

The analysis is based on a large sample of euro area companies from the ECB “Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises” between 2009 and 2018. Ordered logit models are used to relate individual replies on expectations to firms' information available at the time of the forecasts. The model controls for the business cycle and firms' structural characteristics. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we test how policy announcements may affect expectations.

Firms update what otherwise look like adaptive expectations on the basis of new information. The hypothesis of rational expectations is rejected. Moreover, we do not find evidence of inattention or of a wave of pessimism/optimism. The analysis of expectations around the time of the ECB Outright Monetary Transactions program provides some evidence of forward-looking expectations.

The paper contributes to the literature on expectations by using a novel survey in eleven countries. In the multi-country setting, country-specific business cycle effects and waves of pessimism or optimism are better controlled for. The policy announcements of summer 2012 provide for a natural experiment to test the direct impact of such announcements on expectations, an issue of relevance for the monetary policy transmission to economic activity.