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With the focus on the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on export quality or of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection on export trade, there is little scholarly attention on how IPR protection affects the relationship between FDI and export quality. This study aims to examine the potential nonlinear dynamic threshold effect of IPR protection on the relationship between FDI and export quality. Distinguishing between developing and developed countries, the authors present an empirical analysis of the effects of FDI on export quality per degree of IPR protection.

Using panel data on 45 countries for the period from 1992 to 2014, we use a nonlinear dynamic panel threshold model to examine the effect of IPR protection on the relationship between FDI and export quality.

The authors find a triple threshold effect of IPR protection in both developing and developed countries. The three threshold values are larger for developed countries than for developing countries. The coefficients on the relationship between FDI and export quality per degree of IPR protection are larger in developing countries than in developed countries, except for high IPR protection. The results of the paper suggest that the effect of FDI on export quality differs greatly per degree of IPR protection. In both developing and developed countries, FDI impacts export quality most significantly under medium-high IPR protection. Having estimated the optimal range of IPR protection for attaining FDI in both groups of countries, policy recommendations are offered.

These findings not only contribute to the literature but also provide a view that a moderate level of IPR protection is conducive to attracting FDI and improving export quality.

Microblog has become an important tool of social marketing since 2010. Compared with traditional blog, microblog has several distinctive features, such as ease of use, viral transmission, high interactivity and real-time communication. Microblog provides a communication platform for companies and consumers; however, it challenges companies’ consumer-brand relationship management. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influencing mechanism of microblog interaction tactics on consumer-brand relationship.

Based on grounded theory, 66 representative companies’ posts on Weibo are collected, with 1,395 company posts and 5,959 following posts. An influence mechanism model of company microblog interaction tactics on consumer-brand relationship is proposed, then the saturation level of this mechanism is tested.

Results show that: first, companies adopt two types of tactics in microblog interaction: social interaction and task-oriented interaction; second, microblog interaction arises consumers’ emotional response and cognition toward specific brand and eventually influences consumer-brand relationship. Consumers’ emotional response includes pleasure and arousal, brand cognition includes perceived quality, perceived relatedness with companies and brand resonance; third, the influence mechanism differs among different consumer knowledge level, industry and brand awareness.

This study provides insight into the use of microblog interaction tactics. Companies may cross-use social interaction and task-oriented interaction tactics to enhance consumer-brand relationship. Companies need to produce microblog content based on the interests of consumers and further establish and improve fan feedback mechanism.

This paper constructs a model of the influence of company microblog interaction tactics on consumers. This study finds that co-creation activities initiated by companies are the new tactics to attract consumers on microblog. The finding adds new knowledge to the literature of company consumer interaction and provides a theoretical basis for the practice of microblog marketing.

The purpose of this study is to examine the lump solutions of the (3 + 1)-dimensional nonlinear evolution equations by considering a (3 + 1)-dimensional generalized Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (gKP) equation and a (3 + 1)-dimensional variable-coefficient generalized B-type Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (vcgBKP) equation as examples.

Based on Hirota’s bilinear theory, a direct method is used to examine the lump solutions of these two equations.

The complete non-elastic interaction solutions between a lump and a stripe are also discussed for the equations, which show that the lump solitons are swallowed by the stripe solitons.

The dynamics of these solutions are analyzed to enrich the diversity of the dynamics of high-dimensional KP-type nonlinear wave equations.

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of micro-nano surface texture on the corrosion resistance of a titanium alloy and investigate the correlation between corrosion resistance and hydrophobicity.

The surface of the Ti₆Al₄V alloy was modified by laser processing and anodizing to fabricate micro-pits, nanotubes and micro-nano surface textures. Afterward, the surface morphology, hydrophobicity and polarization curve of the samples were analyzed by cold field scanning electron microscopy, contact angle measurement instruments and a multi-channel electrochemical workstation.

The micro-nano surface texture can enhance the hydrophobicity of the Ti₆Al₄V surface, which may lead to better drag reduction to ease the friction of implants in vivo. Nevertheless, no correlation existed between surface hydrophobicity and corrosion resistance; the corrosion resistance of samples with nanotubes and high-density samples with micro-nano surface texture was extremely enhanced, indicating the similar corrosion resistance of the two.

The mechanism of micro-dimples on the corrosion resistance of the micro-nano surface texture was not studied.

The density of micro-pits needs to be optimized to guarantee excellent corrosion resistance in the design of the micro-nano surface texture; otherwise, it will not fulfill the requirement of surface modification.

The influence of the micro-nano surface texture on the corrosion resistance, as well as the relationship between hydrophobicity and corrosion resistance of the titanium alloy surface, were systematically investigated for the first time. These conclusions offer new knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of accounting information quality (AIQ) and firm risk on the corporate sustainability performance (CSP) of Turkish listed firms.

This study used data of 70 firms listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange during the period 2014–2019. Binary and ordinal logistic regression models are used to examine the factors affecting CSP as proxied by the membership to BIST Sustainability Index.

The results of this research indicate that AIQ is negatively related to CSP in firms with severe agency problem. The results also show a significant negative relationship between accounting earnings volatility and CSP. However, the effect of stock return volatility on CSP is not significant. Furthermore, the findings reveal that the possibility of being a member of Turkish sustainability index is higher for larger firms, firms that are included in BIST Corporate Governance Index and firms with high leverage, more research and development (R&D) intensity and high brand value.

The results of this study provide implications for policymakers, investors and firms about the role of firm characteristics in determining CSP.

To the author's knowledge, this study is the first to explore the effect of AIQ and firm risk on CSP in the Turkish context.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a hybrid algorithm of the heuristic algorithm and the orthogonal design to optimize schemes of welding points (WPs). Assembly variation plays an important role in product manufacture. Different schemes of WPs can influence the sensitivity matrices between part and assembly variations.

The paper proposes a hybrid algorithm to optimize schemes of WPs among components. The hybrid algorithm is composed of the heuristic algorithm and the orthogonal design. The heuristic algorithm is used to optimize the initial scheme; moreover, the last result is generated according to the orthogonal table. Although the algorithm cannot assure generating the optimal scheme, it can acquire the satisfying result by using few times of finite element analysis.

Finally, a rear bracket lamp assembly is illustrated to optimize the schemes of WPs between two components. Results show that the algorithm is efficient to generate the optimized WPs scheme for sheet metal assemblies.

A hybrid algorithm is proposed to optimize schemes of WPs among components, which is composed of the heuristic algorithm and the orthogonal design.

Remittances sent by immigrants have long been viewed as a means to combat poverty, to improve consumption, and to raise standard of living. The present study examines the impact of remittances on the economic well-being of Indian households. The analysis is conducted on a randomly selected representative sample of households in Rajasthan. Three types of households are examined: 575 households having current labor migrants, 162 never having migrants, and 232 not having migrants at present but sent migrants in the past. Analysis of the data reveals meaningful differences between the three types of households. Specifically, those having labor migrants are characterized by the highest household income and standard of living. Further analyses suggest that although remittances are likely to improve economic well-being and to secure a higher standard of living they do not have long lasting effect on the economic well-being of the families when migration ends.

Relying on an international panel data set, the purpose of this paper is to quantify the economic impact of labor unionization on corporate financial performance.

Static panel regression analysis is performed for a firm-level multinational data set to elucidate the postulated empirical relationships between employee unionization and corporate performance. The transmission mechanisms intermediating the studied effects are discussed and operationalized.

The empirical evidence demonstrates that firms with a higher level of employee unionization spend more on wages and labor-related expenses. The concomitant downside of higher resource extraction by unions is a lower rate of net employment creation and a higher possibility of redundancy layoffs.

Overall, the authors demonstrate that by creating a credible threat of employee disobedience manifested through strikes and internal wage disputes, labor unions remain an effective mechanism of increasing employees’ bargaining power. Despite the discovered weak negative associative link between the degree of unionization and corporate financial performance, the authors perceive the overall evidence to be inconclusive on this matter.

The author in this paper identifies the gap between analytical and empirical studies regarding the relation between disclosure and cost of capital. Distinct from prior reviews, this paper focuses on the various assumptions of theoretical models and the insights and key results derived from those assumptions. The author also reviews how these theoretical papers are “applied” in empirical studies.

The author systematically analyzes both theoretical and empirical papers that investigate disclosure and cost of capital between 2000 and 2020.

The author shows (1) that there is ample room for theorists to move from the pure exchange economy to the production-based economy setting to investigate the real effect of disclosure on the cost of capital; (2) structural estimation, although still nascent, is a promising direction to build the bridge between analytical and empirical studies in disclosure and cost of capital, and (3) besides ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions, researchers are encouraged to think outside the box regarding how to investigate the interplay between disclosure and cost of capital via a Deep Neural Network design.

The author provides a unique perspective and synthesized knowledge in the relations of disclosure and cost of capital.

During the industrial design process, a product is usually modified and analyzed repeatedly until reaching the final design. Modifying the model and regenerating a mesh for every update during this process is very time consuming. To improve efficiency, it is necessary to circumvent the computer-aided design modeling stage when possible and directly modify the meshes to save valuable time. The purpose of this paper is to develop a method for mesh modifications.

In contrast to existing studies, which focus on one or a class of modifications, this paper comprehensively studies mesh union, mesh gluing, mesh cutting and mesh partitioning. To improve the efficiency of the method, the paper presents a fast and effective surface mesh remeshing algorithm based on a ball-packing method and controls the remeshing regions with a size field.

Examples and results show that the proposed mesh modification method is efficient and effective. The proposed method can be also applied to meshes with different material properties, which is very different with previous work that is only suitable for the meshes with same material property.

This paper proposes an efficient and comprehensive tetrahedral mesh modification method, through which engineers can directly modify meshes instead of models and save time.