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Pigments are fine solid particles which when exposed to light they emit different colours, depending on the nature of substances they are composed of.

This paper aims to present the most influential factors on classroom indoor PM_2.5 (Particulate Matter < 2.5 µ), determining the level of PM_2.5 concentration in five pre-schools located in the most densely populated district of the Tehran metropolitan area (district 6) as a case study to consider the children's exposure to air pollutants and introducing a suitable model, for the first time, to predict PM_2.5 concentration changes, inside pre-schools.

Indoor and outdoor classes PM_2.5 concentrations were measured using two DUSTTRAK direct-reading instruments. Additional class status information was also recorded; concurrently, urban PM_2.5 concentrations and meteorological data were obtained from the fixed monitoring stations and Meteorological Organization. Then, the predicted concentrations of the indoor PM_2.5, from introduced multiple linear regression model via SPSS, compared with the nearest urban air pollution monitoring stations data.

The average outdoor PM_2.5 concentration (43 ± 0.32 µg m⁻³) was higher than the mean indoor (32 ± 0. 21 µg m⁻³), and both were significantly (p < 0.001) surpassing the 24-h EPA standard level. The indoor PM_2.5 concentrations had the highest level in the autumn (48.7 µg m⁻³) and significantly correlated with the outdoor PM_2.5 (r = 0.94, p < 0.001), the number of pupils, ambient temperature, wind speed, wind direction and open area of the doors and windows (p < 0.001). These parameters, as the main determinants, have led to present a 7-variable regression model, with R² = 0.705, which can predict PM_2.5 concentrations in the pre-school classes with more than 80% accuracy. It can be presumed that the penetration of outdoor PM_2.5 was the main source of indoor PM_2.5 concentrations.

This study faced several limitations, such as accessibility to classrooms, and limitations in technicians' numbers, leading to researchers monitoring indoor and outdoor PM concentrations in schools once a week. Additionally, regarding logistical limitations to using monitoring instruments in pre-schools simultaneously, correction factors by running the instruments were applied to obtain comparable measurements.

The author hereby declares that this submission is his own work and to the best of its knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person.

Some labor supply curves exhibit inflection points at which they bend backward or fall forward; thus, some workers alternate between increasing and decreasing their labor hours as wages increase. No consensus has yet been reached on the underlying motive for such behavioral inconsistencies. This paper aims to develop a unified theory to explain each of these variations in labor supply.

The author employs a simple model of labor supply with additively separable utility over income and leisure. The sub-utility function for income is of the Friedman-Savage type, exhibiting preferences that alternate between increasing and diminishing marginal utility of income.

Labor supply curves slope downward where relative risk aversion is strong, and upward where relative risk aversion is weak or negative. Thus, utility functions with inflection points can form the basis of labor supply curves with inflection points.

Friedman-Savage utility can explain virtually any observed labor supply functions, including convex, backward-bending, forward-falling, and inverted-S curves.

Inflection points on the labor supply curve can create multiple and unstable market equilibria. Labor-market policies, including legislation pertaining to minimum wages and collective bargaining, and policies to enhance education and economic security, may reduce aversion to risk and thereby decrease the prevalence of unstable equilibria.

This paper unites two lines of research – labor supply and Friedman-Savage utility – which have, rather remarkably, been separate to date. In doing so, it provides a new application of the classic Friedman-Savage paradigm, and a new explanation of labor supply curves with negatively-sloped regions.

This study examines the relation between voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and the local religious norms of firms’ stakeholders. Little is known about how these local norms (measured at the county level) affect firms’ disclosure practices and firm value, especially voluntary disclosure on climate change and environmental and social responsibility.

Poisson regression models test for a significant relation between firms’ voluntary CSR disclosure intensity and the local religious norms of firms’ stakeholders. Also, an event study tests whether the local religious norms affect investment returns. The data analyzed are extracted from the archive of CSRwire, a prominent news organization that distributes CSR news to investors and the public worldwide.

The study finds that firms in high adherence (high churchgoer) locations disclose CSR activities less frequently, and firms in high affiliation (a high proportion of non-evangelical Christian churchgoers) locations disclose CSR activities more frequently. The study also finds that managers make firm-value-increasing CSR disclosure decisions that cater to the religious and social norms of the local community.

The results imply that managers self-identify with the local religious norms of stakeholders and appropriately disclose less about CSR activities when religious adherence is high and when religious affiliation (the ratio of non-evangelicals to evangelical Christians) is low. The authors find this noteworthy because religious bodies often call for greater CSR involvement and disclosure. Yet, at the firm level, it would appear that local community religious norms also prevail, as it is shown that they significantly explain firms’ CSR disclosure behavior, implying that managers cater to local religious norms in their disclosure decisions.

The findings suggest that managers vary the timing and intensity of voluntary CSR disclosure consistent with stakeholders’ local religious and social norms and that it would be costly and inefficient if the firms were to expand CSR disclosure without considering the religious norms of their local community.

This is the first large-sample study to show that local religious norms affect CSR disclosure behavior. The study makes use of a unique and novel data set obtained exclusively from CSRwire.

This study aims to answer two unique related questions on the overarching relationship between a CEO’s personal religious affiliation, the firm’s advertising spending decision and its shareholder value. First, does the CEO’s religious affiliation, a proxy for risk taking, influence the firm’s advertising spending decision? Second, does the advertising spending decision mediate the relationship between the CEO’s religious affiliation and the firm’s shareholder value?

This study uses data on the religious affiliations of CEOs of publicly listed US firms, 1992–2014, from Marquis Who’s Who; advertising spending and shareholder value from Compustat, and panel data-based regression models including CEO characteristics from ExecuComp, and firm-, industry- and time-based controls.

We find higher advertising spending levels for Protestant over Catholic-led firms, and advertising spending mediates the relationship between a CEO’s religious affiliation and the firm’s shareholder value.

Marketing theory needs to incorporate the missing but fundamental effect of the CEO’s religious affiliation-based values on decisions and outcomes.

Boards of Directors may need to align the CEO’s and their firm’s spending goals.

While previous studies focused on the influence of religious affiliation on consumers’ attitudes and behavior, and executives’ financial and R&D spending decisions, this study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first to investigate the effect of a CEO’s religious affiliation on the firm’s advertising spending decision and its shareholder value.

The insurance industry often experiences criticism for unethical and frequently illegal activities. This document suggests that insurers operate in an uncompetitive environment and that the nature of insurer operations leads otherwise ethical individuals in the direction of questionable ethical decisions throughout the operations of an insurance company.

Recently, traditional financial institutions are facing strong competition from disruptive innovators (Fintech firms) forcing them to increasingly invest in new IT solutions to maintain their competitive edge. However, there are still advantages that traditional financial institutions enjoy, of which the primary one may be reputation. Surprisingly, the firm reputation link to use intention has not received much attention in the literature, prompting this research. The purpose of this study is to examine the firm reputation link to use intention in the context of mobile banking.

The results are based on a survey of 783 participants in Vietnam.

The study confirmed that reputation plays an important role in promoting use intention for mobile banking. Additionally, perceived risk and trust are also linked to perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease-of-use (PEOU).

This study is among the first to link perceived risk and trust to PU and PEOU in a mobile banking context. Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, the study adds to the literature by connecting two separated research themes: technology adoption and reputation. It also suggests avenues for both traditional banks and Fintech firms to set their business strategies to enhance their reputation or collaborate for mutual benefits.

The purpose of this paper is to transfer the concept of market‐consistent embedded value (MCEV) from life to non‐life insurance. This is an important undertaking since differences in management techniques between life and non‐life insurance make management at the group level very difficult. The purpose of this paper is to offer a solution to this problem.

After explaining MCEV, the authors derive differences between life and non‐life insurance and develop a MCEV model for non‐life business. The model framework is applied to a German non‐life insurance company to illustrate its usefulness in different applications.

The authors show an MCEV calculation based on empirical data and set up an economic balance sheet. The value implications of varying loss ratios, cancellation rates, and costs within a sensitivity analysis are analyzed. The usefulness of the model is illustrated within a value‐added analysis. The authors also embed the MCEV concept in a simplified model for an insurance group, to derive group MCEV and outline differences between local GAAP, IFRS and MCEV.

The analysis provides new and relevant information to the stakeholders of an insurance company. The model provides information comparable to that provided by embedded value models currently used in the life insurance industry and fills a gap in the literature. The authors reveal significant valuation difference between MCEV and IFRS and argue that there is a need for a consistent MCEV approach at the insurance‐group level.

The paper presents a new valuation technique for non‐life insurance that is easy to use, simple to interpret, and directly comparable to life insurance. Despite the growing policy interest in embedded value, not much academic attention has been given to this methodology. The authors hope that this work will encourage further discussion on this topic in academia and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between gender and ethnic diversity in managerial positions and Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) operating performance.

The authors employ two-stage Heckman correction models on an unbalanced panel of US Equity REITs for the time period from 2000 to 2015. The second-stage model uses multiple operating performance measures regressed on a dichotomous variable that indicates if the REIT promotes diversity in middle management in addition to a vector of control variables.

The results indicate that REITs that promote diversity in middle management with profit-and-loss responsibilities have lower operating performance than comparable counterparts. That is, gender and demographic diversity is negatively related to REIT performance as measured by return on assets, return on equity and funds from operations.

The analysis indicates that while gender and ethnic diversity is socially responsible and may provide many benefits, diversity among managers and decision makers has to be carefully implemented in order to achieve positive financial results.

This paper contributes to the literature by investigating whether diversity in leading managerial positions, other than in top officer ranks and on the board of directors, have an impact on REIT operating performance.

This paper reports on a seminar organised as part of an ESRC‐funded series on older people and care homes that focused on the period of transition into a care home and the experiences of older people immediately before and after they made the move. The papers presented suggested that there were ways in which older people could exercise choice and control over the process, but that problems existed, ranging from the ways in which assessment and referral systems were crisis or service led, to how people were supported after their move. This paper outlines these arguments, and concludes that such processes need to be addressed if the quality of care at this difficult period is to be improved.