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This paper seeks to investigate the differences in the teachers’ professional development (TPD) by mentorship in workplace. The authors examined the role of mentorship in the PD of teachers and conducted a meta-analysis of pertinent empirical data.

Using data from over 2,900 individuals, 66 experiments and 12 countries, the authors presented a meta-analysis of the association between workplace mentorship and TPD.

The authors concluded that mentoring activities could boost the TPD to some extent. It contributes positively to the discipline of science and language, kindergarten, individual mentoring and curriculum research. In addition, the periodicity should not exceed 1 year.

The results of the meta-analysis are restricted to short-term mentorship activities, and the sample size is modest. Building upon the findings from the literature review and meta-analysis, the authors delineated a research agenda for prospective investigations. This includes an imperative for further exploration into the nexus between mentoring and the PD of educators.

Based on the available literature and meta-analysis findings, the authors developed a framework for the “Experts in the classroom” TPD pattern.

This is the first meta-analysis evaluating the association between mentorship and TPD.

The purpose of this paper is to use samples from Chinese-listed companies to investigate the effects of interest rate deregulation and earnings transparency on company’s capital structure in China over the period of 2003–2015. In particular, the authors study the link between state-owned enterprises (SOEs), economic growth targets and marketization in China’s unique institutional context.

Based on the methodology of quantitative analysis, the authors use baseline and cluster analysis for all samples with full set of controls, for robustness tests of alternative proxy of interest rate control by using a cluster analysis at the firm level, regarding endogeneity tests conducted fixed effect model with adding instrument variables (IV), two-period factors regression method via IV and system generalized method of moments for dynamic analysis.

The results show that earnings transparency increases firm leverage and the additional tests suggest that such an effect takes place via a mechanism by reducing the cost of debt finance. However, information transparency could moderate the effects of interest rate deregulation on corporate capital structure. In addition, it finds that SOEs are less sensitive toward the changes of interest rates in China because lending to SOEs is policy-oriented and lacks of market evaluation of business risk. Government control is conducive to enhancing the transparency of the whole industry; however, market-oriented reform is conducive to enhancing the transparency of the company’s own information.

The paper makes contribution to the relationship between earnings disclosure quality and capital structure in the Chinese unique institutional context, such as taking the progressive interest rate reform, SOES, different economic growth target and different marketization level in each province of China. The authors suggest that investors will pay more attention to the company’s own unique information transparency in the provinces with a high degree of marketization. As a potential direction for future research, the authors will investigate how the earnings transparency has impact on capital structure, and how such impact would depend on the transparency of specific business, the cap of foreign shareholding and the convenience of investment.

This research would be the target of banking market reform in order to bring a fair financing environment for all businesses in China. It implies that current experiment of interest rate liberalization in China is not as efficient as it could be in allocating funds across all businesses. State banks, SOEs and local governments are still the biggest players on both the demand and supply sides of the Chinese credit markets.

The social implication of this paper lies in the fact that first, it provides additional evidence on the effect of market-oriented reforms through how the information transparency interacts with the financial decisions making of corporations. Second, it offers policy implication to banking market deregulation in China.

The paper makes contribution to the relationship between earnings disclosure quality and capital structure in the Chinese unique institutional context. This research tests the existing literature, such as Francis et al. (2004) and Zhang and Lu (2007), and suggests that informationally transparent firms have a higher debt ratio and lower effective interest costs on bank loans. In addition, this paper further explores the role played by interest rate deregulation in corporate finance, and in turn market fund allocation. This paper sheds new light on information transparency and explores the relationship between earnings disclosure quality and debt financing behaviors of Chinese publicly listed companies over the period of 2003–2015.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a novel stabilization scheme to handle convection and pressure oscillation in the process of solving incompressible laminar flows by finite element method (FEM).

The semi-implicit stabilization scheme, characteristic-based polynomial pressure projection (CBP3) consists of the Characteristic-Galerkin method and polynomial pressure projection. Theoretically, the proposed scheme works for any type of element using equal-order approximation for velocity and pressure. In this work, linear 3-node triangular and 4-node tetrahedral elements are the focus, which are the simplest but most difficult elements for pressure stabilizations.

The present paper proposes a new scheme, which can stabilize FEM solution for flows of both low and relatively high Reynolds numbers. And the influence of stabilization parameters of the CBP3 scheme has also been investigated.

The research in this work is limited to the laminar incompressible flow.

The verification and validation of the CBP3 scheme are conducted by several 2 D and 3 D numerical examples. The scheme could be used to deal with more practical fluid problems.

The application of scheme to study complex hemodynamics of patient-specific abdominal aortic aneurysm is also presented, which demonstrates its potential to solve bio-flows.

The paper simulated 2 D and 3 D numerical examples with superior results compared to existing results and experiments. The novel CBP3 scheme is verified to be very effective in handling convection and pressure oscillation.

Based on previous literature on big data analytics (BDA) and supply chain (SC) management, the purpose of this paper is to address the factors determining firms’ intention to adopt BDA in their daily operations. Specifically, this study classifies potential factors into four categories: technological, organizational, environmental factors, and SC characteristics.

Drawing on the innovation diffusion theory, a model consisted of direct technological and organizational factors as well as moderators was proposed. Subsequently, survey data was collected from 210 organizations. Then we used SPSS and SmartPLS to analyze the collected data.

The empirical results revealed that perceived benefits and top management support can significantly influence the adoption intention. And environmental factors, such as competitors’ adoption, government policy, and SC connectivity, can significantly moderate the direct relationships between driving factors and the adoption intention.

Given the fact that big data (BD) usage in logistics and SC management is still in the start-up stage, the interpretations toward BDA might vary from different perspectives, thus causing some ambiguity in understanding the meaning and potential BD has. In addition, we collected data through questionnaires completed by IT managers, whose viewpoint may not fully represent that of an organization.

This paper tests the organizational adoption intention of BDA and extends the literature streams of BD and SC management simultaneously.

This research helps top managers assess the benefits of BDA as well as how to adjust their business strategy along the changes of environment and SC maturity.

This paper contributes to the literature of organizational adoption intention of BDA and extends the literature streams of BD and SC management simultaneously.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of internal corporate governance mechanisms on the capital structure decisions of Chinese-listed firms.

Using a large and more recent data set consisting of 2,386 Chinese-listed firms over the period from 1998 to 2012, the authors use different statistical methods (OLS, fixed effects and system GMM) to analyse the effects of firm-specific and corporate governance influences on capital structure.

The authors find that the proportion of independent directors and ownership concentration exert significant influence on the level of Chinese long-term debt ratios after controlling for firm-specific determinants and split share reforms. Further analysis separating the sample of this paper into state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and privately owned enterprises (POEs) suggests that ownership concentration in the hands of the state leads to decrease in debt ratios.

The finding implies that concentrated ownership in the hands of the state appears more efficient compared to their private counterparts in their monitoring role.

This paper extends prior literature, which has concentrated disproportionately on firm-specific influences on capital structure, to the effects of within-firm governance mechanisms on capital structure decisions. The paper contributes to the agency theory–capital structure discourse in an emerging country context where corporate governance system appears weak.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of solving turbulent flows based on smoothed finite element method (S-FEM). Then, the differences between S-FEM and finite element method (FEM) in dealing with turbulent flows are compared.

The stabilization scheme, the streamline-upwind/Petrov-Galerkin stabilization is coupled with stabilized pressure gradient projection in the fractional step framework. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations with standard k-epsilon model are selected to solve turbulent flows based on S-FEM and FEM. Standard wall functions are applied to predict boundary layer profiles.

This paper explores a completely new application of S-FEM on turbulent flows. The adopted stabilization scheme presents a good performance on stabilizing the flows, especially for very high Reynolds numbers flows. An advantage of S-FEM is found in applying wall functions comparing with FEM. The differences between S-FEM and FEM have been investigated.

The research in this work is limited to the two-dimensional incompressible turbulent flow.

The verification and validation of a new combination are conducted by several numerical examples. The new combination could be used to deal with more complicated turbulent flows.

The applications of the new combination to study basic and complex turbulent flow are also presented, which demonstrates its potential to solve more turbulent flows in nature and engineering.

This work carries out a great extension of S-FEM in simulations of fluid dynamics. The new combination is verified to be very effective in handling turbulent flows. The performances of S-FEM and FEM on turbulent flows were analyzed by several numerical examples. Superior results were found compared with existing results and experiments. Meanwhile, S-FEM has an advantage of accuracy in predicting boundary layer profile.

Purpose: This study examines the effect of uncertainties on the hospitality industry from different perspectives across the globe. The hospitality industry faces several contemporary issues and challenges that have the potential to impact its growth and development. This study aims to analyse the current problems and uncertainties in the hospitality sector.

Need for the Study: The hospitality industry plays a significant role in the global economy with various services, including accommodation, food and beverage, events, and tourism. However, the sector faces several contemporary issues and challenges that have the potential to impact its growth and development. This study provides an overview of the most significant problems and challenges facing the hospitality industry today.

Methodology: A systematic literature review was conducted to identify and synthesise relevant studies on the effect of uncertainties issues on the hospitality industry. A systematic search of the Web of Science and Scopus databases was conducted to determine relevant studies published between 2010 and 2021. Studies were screened and selected based on pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. A thematic analysis was performed to categorise the uncertainties and issues in the hospitality industry.

Findings: The study identified several uncertainties and issues facing the hospitality industry, including the pandemic uncertainties, financial crisis, whether positive and negative impacts, terrorism attacks on hotels and tourist places, uncertainties in government policies, situational risks like uncertainties, ambiguity, cultural differences, changes in tourist preferences and changing habits of the tourist.

While the topic of “umbrella branding” strategies for manufacturers’ products in the business-to-business literature has received attention, much less has been written about umbrella branding strategies in the hospitality industry. With the aid of a theoretical framework, this paper aims to explore three types of behavioural characteristics: alliance attribute, communication behaviour and alliance management, to examine cost and service benefits for alliance success within one umbrella organisation in the German hospitality industry. The theoretical framework of the paper built on the model of Vanpoucke and Vereecke (2012), incorporating a top management perspective to test and extend an umbrella brand.

Semi-structured interviews with a sample of senior managers were carried out in Germany at the headquarters of Ringhotels e.V. Content analysis of the data collected was implemented to increase understanding of the research phenomenon with regard to relationships and the conceptual framework applied. The results were presented in the tables with discussions about the qualitative research.

The results of the study showed that behavioural characteristics played a significant role in explaining overall alliance success on cost and service benefits. A good level of quality presented in Ringhotels’ services, marketing, risk and coordination was found to be a better predictor of success when absence of management and lack of trust hampered good performance.

The study offers insights into the management of relationships within Ringhotels e.V. and how these can be better managed. The main contribution of the work fills in a gap currently existing in the literature about umbrella branding within the hospitality industry.

The purpose of the study is to construct a relationship model between the consumer resistance to innovation (CRI) and innovation adoption, and the study selected the customer loyalty as the moderating variable.

Based on questionnaire survey and regression model analysis, the study analyses the psychological processes and formation mechanisms that they either resist or adopt innovation by exploring users' attitudes towards smartphone application updates.

The results showed that innovation resistance negatively affected innovation adoption, and consumers are more likely to adopt innovations simply under the influence of customer loyalty. In addition, the moderating effect of customer loyalty is different in that how the three dimensions of innovation resistance influence innovation adoption. From the perspective of affective response, when consumers become emotionally disgusted with innovative products, loyalty can hardly change their minds. When consumers' resistance to innovation comes more from cognitive evaluation or functioning, loyalty is more likely to change their resistance.

The paper tests mechanism between customer resist the new product and new product adoption and the moderate effect of customer loyalty.