Immediate aid to survivors of a natural disaster is the keynote to crisis management. Providing temporary access is one of the most important principles of immediate relief. However, in the post-disaster conditions, it is not possible to use road construction machinery, especially in rural areas. Therefore, in this study, the feasibility of using a Rapid Assembly Building (RAB) system for the temporary pavement with the possibility of rapid construction, which follows the natural topography of the place, is investigated. The introduced system consists of a high-density polyurethane (PUR) foam core as well as two continuous layers of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) facings. For this purpose, the mechanical properties of the materials and composite pavement were determined by a series of laboratory tests. Then, the mechanical performance and bearing behaviour of an element of the presented pavement system was numerically modelled under AASHTO loading. Since in the post-disaster situation, it is not possible to establish the subgrade, an uncompacted subgrade is used for modelling. The results show that this system can be used well in post-disaster situations to provide a rapid, safe, yet robust road without any permanent deformation.

This study aims to examine the impact of minority investor protection mechanisms on agency costs. All relevant indicators of minority investor protection adapted from the World Bank’s annual ‘Doing Business’ reports, along with concentrated government ownership, are employed with a panel data sample of 135 Vietnamese listed firms during the period 2014–2018. It is found that the following mechanisms are effective in mitigating agency costs and hence agency problems at the firm level: 1) review and approval requirements for related-party transactions; 2) minority shareholders’ ability to sue and hold directors liable for their duties; 3) minority shareholders’ access to internal corporate documents; 4) investors’ rights to approve major corporate investment and sale of asset decisions; and 5) disclosure in annual reports of salaries, bonuses and other forms of remuneration to directors and management. Interestingly, board independence and controlling government shareholders are not confirmed to play significant roles in addressing agency problems. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt at testing for the impact of minority investor protection mechanisms developed by the World Bank on agency costs at the firm level, hence providing empirical evidence for the adoption of the minority investor protection mechanisms promoted by the World Bank. This study also provides policy implications for selecting effective mechanisms to mitigate agency conflicts between controlling shareholders and minority investors in order to enhance the financial performance of firms in an Asian emerging market.

Fabric Formworks which are made using textile sheets such as Polyolefin, Polyesters/Polyethylene Terephthalate, nylon and Polypropylene are being used instead of conventional formworks in the construction industry. This article summarises significant studies and provides an updated review of references on the structural performance of fabric formworks over the last decade. The survey showed that they could be categorised into seven themes; namely, “Feasibility studies and manufacturing methods of complex structural elements”; “Finite element modelling, structural optimizing and form-finding themes”; “Pneumatic / Vacuumatic formwork theme”; “Durability, sustainability, efficiency and quality improvement”; “Cable-net fabric formwork theme”; “Stay-in-place structural formworks theme”; and “Review papers”. These categories comprise about 25%, 17%, 15%, 15%, 10%, 6% and 6% of related studies respectively.

The aim of the study was to examine how consumers integrate into brand communities on social media network sites (SNSs) and how it affects overall satisfaction of social media sites users among students. The study depends on the service-dominant logic (SDL) to develop the constructs for hypotheses testing. The study used a cross-sectional survey research design. The data were col-lected using a web-based survey of university of Nairobi Students. In all, a total of 608 students participated in the survey. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling with AMOS software. The results revealed that frequency of usage of SNSs and duration of usage positively affect the self –perceived relevance of SNSs. Also, the self-perceived relevance leads to building brand community which finally leads to customer satisfaction. The research was limited to only students of Nairobi and selecting students in itself, which is a limitation as well as limiting it to uni-versity of Nairobi. The younger or the millennial are not the only users of SNSs. We have older generations as well, who also use SNSs for various activities such as professional development among others. Understanding why consumers of social media network site would integrate brand community is seminal for both local and foreign firms doing business in a developing country. This would enable marketing practitioners to craft marketing strategies best for community brand building.

Foam made panels as efficient building elements are becoming a major role player in modular construction with a variety of applications worldwide. However, construction accuracy, technology, and method can have serious effects on the panels’ behavior. In this study, using a unique pneumatic pressure testing rig, bending tests are conducted on the two types of rigid polyurethane panels. The panels are categorized based on the existence of construction cold joints (seams) as S (Seamless) type and TS (Transverse Seams) type. The S type panels are tested under monotonic uniform loading with a maximum nominal pressure of about 1 atm as the witness specimens. The TS panels are tested under both monotonic and cyclic uniform loading, and the deflections-pressure behavior obtained. The results show that S panels could resist up to 0.77 atm under monotonic uniform loading, while the minimum tensile strength of the foam is 13 MPa. In addition, panels with transverse seams collapsed under monotonic and cyclic loads at an average of 0.46 atm and 0.33 atm respectively but at the same position, located on the seamed section, which represent the same failure mode. Based on the results, the seamed section exhibited a maximum tensile strength of about 33.1% of an intact section under monotonic loading; and 27.9% lower results under cyclic loading.

The study was conducted to examine the determinants on the choice of a Big Four auditor of listed firms in the Vietnamese stock market. Data were hand-collected from 511 non-financial firms in the period 2015 – 2017. The research results show that ownership concentration and foreign ownership had a positive significant impact on the choice of a high-quality Big Four auditor. Meanwhile, board size was negatively associated with the selection of large auditing firms. However, there was no statistical evidence on the effect of the proportion of independent directors and CEO duality on the likelihood of choosing a Big Four auditor.

This paper investigates the effect of investments in subsidiaries, joint ventures and affiliates (affiliate investment) on firm growth. Using both static and dynamic panel data models with a sample dataset of 2,056 firm-year observations on Vietnam’s stock market from 2008-2015, the study finds that increasing affiliate investment in prior periods had a significantly positive impact on asset growth and net income growth (but not sales growth) of the firms in subsequent periods. In addition, the study finds new empirical evidence that private-controlled firms are more efficient than government-controlled firms in terms of affiliate investment. It is also found that profitability, government ownership and foreign ownership are significant dynamics for firm growth. This research sheds light on the role of affiliate investment as a corporate diversification strategy to boost firm growth, including growth rates of multinational corporations. It also provides important implications about the determinants of different dimensions of firm growth in the context of an Asian emerging economy.

Connections represent major challenges in the design of composite structures, mainly because they entail discontinuities in the geometry of the structure and material properties, and introduce high local stress concentrations. Despite some constructability complications, integrated connection could be a reliable solution. In this paper, the structural behaviour of an integrated connection for implementation between adjacent composite sandwich panels in rapid assembly buildings is studied. The integrated connection system consists of 3-D high density polyethylene (HDPE) skin faces, and cores of high-density polyurethane (PUR) foam integrated into the sandwich panels at the moment of their production. The study included experimental investigations regarding the mechanical and structural response of the connection under actual applied loads, and its torsional rigidity, rotational stiffness and behaviour under lateral loading is investigated. Using Finite Element modelling, the stress distribution and the mechanisms of failure are studied. The results show a good agreement between the numerical and experimental results.

In this paper, the edgewise and flatwise compressive behaviour of an innovative sandwich panel, mainly developed for quick assembly of post-disaster housing as well as load bearing panels for pre-fabricated modular construction and semi-permanent buildings, is investigated experimentally and by finite element modelling. The panel is composed of two 3-D high-density polyethylene (HDPE) sheets as the skins, filled with high-density Polyurethane (PU) foam as the core. HDPE sheets manufactured with a studded surface considerably enhance the stress distribution and buckling performance of the sandwich panel. Material characterisation tests and flatwise compression and edgewise compression experiments were performed in accordance with ASTM standards to evaluate the compressive strength and the load-carrying behaviour of the sandwich panels. A finite element analysis and validation were also conducted to model the compressive behaviour of sandwich structures. Results demonstrate that the developed sandwich panel exhibits very good compressive performance.

Broadening the approval and usage of technology to study online education is not a novel study subject, and several researchers have addressed it. However, the production of a systematic Technology acceptance model capable of examining online education adoption in the current Covid-19 is seen as a vital research path. Literature research was conducted to evaluate the most used external influences of innovation adoption regarding online learning acceptance. The search revealed that computer self-efficacy, corona apprehension, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness are the external factors for technology acceptance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the variables that online education programs' approval among students can influence. 185 students from Jordan's Al-Zaytoonah University and Applied Science Private University participated in the online research. The online questionnaire system in this report was analyzed using SmartPLS tools. According to the findings, perceived usefulness, behavioral intent of use, self-efficacy, and Corona fear all positively affect the adoption of online education programs. The findings of this study were used as a required input in the latest online education interactive analytical production that was used extensively during the pandemic.