Search in Publications

Found 6407 publications

Crisis and constitutional politics in Central Europe

Péter Smuk

Publication Name: Frontiers in Political Science

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: 7

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

This paper aims to examine the impact of significant crisis situations on the constitutional framework over the past decade, including financial crisis, migration, pandemics and war. The paper focuses on the Visegrad countries, especially Hungary, and analyses the constitutional amendments adopted and the relevant constitutional court decisions. By examining the justifications for the amendments and decisions, it is possible to observe the efforts of legislators and governing parties to overcome difficult governance situations in crisis management. The study aims to interpret the relationship between constitutional responses to social crises and crises of democratic political systems, and argues that the inherent feature of constitutional changes triggered by crises is that they remain part of the political system in the longer term. In turn, their impact determines not only the resilience of states and societies, but also the direction in which democratic systems evolve.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1545816

ESG Ratings, Scope Emissions, and Corporate Creditworthiness: Insights into Rating Divergence in the U.S. and EU

Árpád Tóth Bence Lukács

Publication Name: Ecocycles

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: 11

Issue: 2

Page Range: 27-34

Description:

This study explores the relationship between corporate credit ratings, Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings, and Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for the largest 100 publicly traded companies by market capitalization in the U.S. and the EU. By integrating credit ratings from Moody’s and S&P Global, ESG ratings from Refinitiv and S&P Global, and emissions data from corporate sustainability reports, this research addresses the inconsistencies in how emissions transparency impacts creditworthiness. Employing statistical analyses such as correlation, regression, and quartile comparisons, the study provides novel insights into the weak association between ESG ratings and actual emissions performance. The findings reveal that higher credit-rated companies tend to report higher Scope 1 and 2 emissions, while ESG ratings, despite being seen as indicators of sustainability, fail to consistently reflect a company’s emissions data, particularly Scope 3 emissions. This study contributes to the literature by underlining the methodological divergences among ESG rating agencies, emphasizing their limited alignment with environmental performance metrics. Highlighting the need for a standardized ESG reporting framework, this paper calls attention to the limitations of current ESG scores as a proxy for corporate sustainability and their implications for credit rating assessments.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.19040/ecocycles.v11i2.498

Examining the Role of Accountant’s Knowledge of Forensic Accounting, Corporate Governance Policies and Fraud Awareness Training in Preventing Fraud: A Survey of Indian Corporates

Suresh B. Pathare Jewel Kumar Roy Dipak Santram Vakrani Rakhi P. Sangale

Publication Name: Journal of Risk and Financial Management

Publication Date: 2026-02-01

Volume: 19

Issue: 2

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

Corporate fraud remains a persistent problem that highlights the need for improved internal control and governance. Research on corporate governance (CG) and forensic accounting (FA) has been largely performed as separate studies. Little has been done to look at how accountants’ knowledge and the specific training of accountants in fraud awareness for their company’s leaders affect preventing fraud (FP). The study surveyed 150 accountants in India from April 2023 to May 2024. The results are based on Chi-Square testing and binary logistic regression. The study investigated how companies in India incorporate CG policy understanding and FG use for KMP and boards and how these factors affect FP. The findings indicate that understanding CG, using FA, and having specific training on fraud awareness for KMPs and boards of directors are all significant factors in reducing the occurrence of fraud. In addition, general employee training has no impact on FP. The theories of agency, stakeholder, and fraud triangle were combined to create one model to provide guidance to both organizations and regulators on how to institutionalize FG and to improve transparency in governance.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/jrfm19020118

FORTRESS, WITH OPEN POSSIBILITIES: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, ÉRD, HUNGARY

Krisztina Somogyi

Publication Name: Metszet

Publication Date: 2025-01-01

Volume: 16

Issue: 4

Page Range: 36-43

Description:

In an uncertain physical and intellectual environment, a presentation that suggests safety and a well-structured order is likely the best architectural strategy when designing a school. The idea of Érd Fenyves Parkváros Public Education Center started in 2016 with poorly articulated intentions, thus without a significant professional program or partners. Observing the functioning of the school that was handed over a couple of years ago and has been inhabited for a year and a half, the building has many spatial qualities that are still untapped. Led by Tamás Karácsony, György Major, and Péter Klobusovszki, the 24-classroom primary school created in the 'Vertical Workshop' of the Department of Public Building Design at BME may seem like a traditional fortress, but it could also serve as a pedagogy center that opens up to communities and offers alternatives.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.33268/Met.2025.4.6

Thermally conductive and electrically resistive acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)/boron nitride composites: Optimal design using a multi-criteria decision-making approach

László Lendvai Daniele Rigotti Tej Singh Alessandro Pegoretti

Publication Name: Journal of Materials Research and Technology

Publication Date: 2023-09-01

Volume: 26

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 8776-8788

Description:

The purpose of this work is to propose a decision-making algorithm to select the optimal composite material for thermally conductive but electrically insulating applications, such as microelectronic packaging heat sinks, diodes, and other electronic devices. In particular, an algorithm based on the criteria importance through inter-criteria correlation (CRITIC) and additive ratio assessment (ARAS) methods are used to evaluate several conflicting attributes. The evaluated samples were acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) composites filled with 0–30 vol% of boron nitride (BN) particles and prepared through melt compounding. The performance attributes considered through testing were heat conductivity, electrical resistivity, density, hardness, and tensile properties (Young's modulus, tensile strength, and elongation). As expected, the composite containing 30 vol% BN exhibited the highest heat conductivity, electrical resistivity, and Young's modulus. Meanwhile, unfilled ABS had the highest elongation at break, tensile strength, and lowest density. With respect to hardness, the 1 vol% BN-loaded composite proved to be superior. Therefore, the experimental data revealed a considerable compositional dependence with no obvious trend. The optimal composition was identified by adopting the CRITIC-ARAS multi-criteria decision-making algorithm, based on which the 30 vol% BN-containing composite was dominant among all the prepared samples. A validation through other decision-making techniques was performed to support the robustness of the proposed technique. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was carried out on several weight exchange scenarios to see the stability of the ranking results.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1016/j.jmrt.2023.09.165

Development and characterization of composites produced from recycled polyethylene terephthalate and waste marble dust

Ferenc Ronkay László Lendvai Vishal Ahlawat Guangming Wang Sicong Zhang Shaofeng Guo Tej Singh

Publication Name: Polymer Composites

Publication Date: 2022-06-01

Volume: 43

Issue: 6

Page Range: 3951-3959

Description:

The current paper presents the results of a study on the processing and characterization of waste marble powder-reinforced recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) composites. Samples with up to 20 wt% marble dust (MD) content were produced with twin-screw extrusion followed by injection molding. Subsequently, the morphological and mechanical features and the wear resistance of the developed composites were studied. In terms of mechanical properties, the incorporation of MD steadily improved both the tensile and flexural modulus of rPET, while the strength values showed an optimum at 2.5–5.0 wt%, depending on the mode of loading. Above the optimal MD concentration, the strength values deteriorated, however, even at maximum (20 wt%) marble content they were still similar to that of neat rPET, which proves the potential of utilizing waste MD in this specific polymer as filler material. The surface hardness of the fabricated samples also gradually improved with higher marble content, yet it came at the cost of impact toughness. The analysis of wear performance revealed an increasing resistance against wear up to 5.0 wt% filler loading, above which the dust particles got easily peeled off from the matrix, decreasing its efficiency.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1002/pc.26669

Effect of Surface Modifications on Surface Roughness of Ti6Al4V Alloy Manufactured by 3D Printing, Casting, and Wrought

Péter Pinke Tünde Anna Kovács Hassanen Jaber J. Kónya Hajnalka Hargitai

Publication Name: Materials

Publication Date: 2023-06-01

Volume: 16

Issue: 11

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

This work aimed to comprehensively evaluate the influence of different surface modifications on the surface roughness of Ti6Al4V alloys produced by selective laser melting (SLM), casting and wrought. The Ti6Al4V surface was treated using blasting with Al2O3 (70–100 µm) and ZrO2 (50–130 µm) particles, acid etching with 0.017 mol/dm3 hydrofluoric acids (HF) for 120 s, and a combination of blasting and acid etching (SLA). It was found that the optimization of the surface roughness of Ti6Al4V parts produced by SLM differs significantly from those produced by casting or wrought processes. Experimental results showed that Ti6Al4V alloys produced by SLM and blasting with Al2O3 followed by HF etching had a higher surface roughness (Ra = 2.043 µm, Rz = 11.742 µm), whereas cast and wrought Ti6Al4V components had surface roughness values of (Ra = 1.466, Rz = 9.428 m) and (Ra = 0.940, Rz = 7.963 m), respectively. For Ti6Al4V parts blasted with ZrO2 and then etched by HF, the wrought Ti6Al4V parts exhibited higher surface roughness (Ra = 1.631 µm, Rz = 10.953 µm) than the SLM Ti6Al4V parts (Ra = 1.336 µm, Rz = 10.353 µm) and the cast Ti6Al4V parts (Ra = 1.075 µm, Rz = 8.904 µm).

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/ma16113989

Robust Road Surface Normal and Pitch Prediction via IMU-Camera Fusion

Áron Ballagi Zoltan Rozsa Zoltan Rozsa Norbert Marko Tamas Sziranyi

Publication Name: Lecture Notes in Computer Science

Publication Date: 2026-01-01

Volume: 15656 LNCS

Issue: Unknown

Page Range: 591-603

Description:

Predicting road surface normal and pitch with image-based algorithms remains a significant challenge, especially when steep inclines, declines, and sudden changes in road inclination are involved. To solve this problem, we propose a novel image-based algorithm that leverages homography decomposition to achieve accurate ground plane normal and pitch prediction. By integrating a Kalman Filter, our method enhances prediction stability. Further, we incorporate robust sensor fusion by integrating IMU-based odometry, ensuring that the estimates are accurately aligned with real-world motion. Overall, our approach outperforms existing techniques in both accuracy and responsiveness for dynamic driving environments. Experimental results show that our approach achieves superior performance, reducing average pitch and normal errors by 0.493∘ and 0.483∘, respectively, compared to the current state-of-the-art, and exhibits a shorter transient response in case of a sudden road inclination change. Code is available at: https://norbertmarko.github.io/ground-normal-prediction/.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-07343-3_47

Non-Performing Loans and Net Interest Margin in the MENA Region: Linear and Non-Linear Analyses

Emira Kozarević Abdelaziz Hakimi Khalil Alnabulsi

Publication Name: International Journal of Financial Studies

Publication Date: 2023-06-01

Volume: 11

Issue: 2

Page Range: Unknown

Description:

This paper analyzes the linear and non-linear relationship between non-performing loans and bank profitability measured by the Net Interest Margin for a sample of 74 Middle Eastern and North African banks over the period of 2005–2020. We used the System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) as a linear approach and the Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) model as a non-linear approach. The empirical results of the SGMM approach indicated that the ratio of NPLs negatively affects bank profitability. The findings of the non-linear relationship based on the PSTR model confirmed the existence of a threshold effect. We found that below the threshold of 4.42%, the effect of NPLs is negative but not significant, while after surpassing this threshold, the effect becomes negative and significant. As for bank specifics, we revealed that bank size is positively and significantly associated with bank profitability. For industry factors, we found that more bank concentration decreases bank profitability. Regarding the financial environment, we concluded that the global financial crisis exerted a negative impact on bank profitability. Moreover, we revealed a positive and significant impact of GDP on bank profitability as well as a negative impact of inflation on bank profitability. This study has some limitations regarding the social, economic, and financial differences of the whole sample, which includes banks from the Middle East and others from North Africa. Hence, decomposing the whole sample into two sub-samples could improve the results of this paper.

Open Access: Yes

DOI: 10.3390/ijfs11020064