The purpose of this research is to provide some insights into socio-demographic determinants of predicting the likelihood of residents propensity to travel. Using the quota sampling technique, data collection was carried out from October to December 2019, yielding a sample of 632 valid responses. To gain a better understanding of the sociodemographic determinants of propensity to travel, we, primarily, use descriptive statistical analysis, chi-square test and probit regression model. The research findings have revealed that age, education and household income characteristics may be considered as antecedents of travel propensity of residents. Having in mind the impact that Covid-19 pandemic has on sector of tourism worldwide, and based on the results of this research, policymakers' efforts should be directed to promoting local tourist destinations and to enhancing tourism literacy of residents.

The purpose of this research is to provide some insights into relationship between decisionmaking heuristics and perceived quality of life. Using the purposive sampling technique, data collection was carried out, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from June to October 2020, yielding a sample of 319 valid responses. To gain a better understanding of the relationship between decision-making heuristics and the perceived quality of life, we, primarily, use descriptive statistical analysis, chi-square test and probit regression model. The research findings have revealed positive association between all three decision-making heuristics, i.e. representativeness, anchoring, availability, and perceived quality of life. Furthermore, the group with above-average perceived quality of life have higher representativeness, anchoring, and availability scores comparing to the group with below-average perceived quality of life. These differences are statistically significant. Furthermore, out of three decision-making heuristics components, availability, or a heuristic whereby people make judgments about the likelihood of an event based on how easily a similar example comes to mind, seems to be the strongest predictor of the perceived quality of life. Memories that are easily recalled are often insufficient for estimating likelihood of occurring similar events again in the future. In that respect, availability may produce low-quality information in the decision making process. Ultimately, this may lead to bad decisions.

Paper materials are natural composite materials where fibers are almost randomly distributed in a fiber network. Mechanical properties of fiber networks are known to be strongly controlled by fiberfiber interactions and single fiber properties. A fiber network is often modeled as a beam network where beam-to-beam interactions are treated as cohesive zones and single beams stretch indefinitely without breaking. The latter assumption is not physically correct and leads to an overprediction of the mechanical response of the beam network. In this work, we present a computational modeling framework for simulating beam failures and thereby closing the gap to physically based micromechanical modeling of paper and packaging products. Modeling beam failure is a challenging engineering problem. At the onset of failure, the tangent stiffness tensor projected in a direction normal to the surface of discontinuity (commonly referred to as the localization tensor) is singular, i.e. we have a bifurcation point and the problem is ill-posed. Another implication of ill-posedness for the numerical simulation after a spatial discretization is a pathological mesh dependency of the computed result. We use the ED-FEM where a failure process zone (FPZ) is introduced into a multi-scale continuum mechanics formulation (i.e. the material is split into a small scale and a large scale defining the FPZ and the bulk material, respectively), making the computed result mesh independent. The multi-scale nature of the ED-FEM enables an operator splitting implementation method as opposed to carrying out the computations of the nodal displacement vector and the displacement discontinuity vector simultaneously with the global loop where the global stiffness matrix would be singular at the onset of failure. We show that fiber failures and fiber-fiber bond failures can contribute to the observed elastoplastic stress-strain response of paper.

We develop a thermodynamically consistent continuum damage micromechanics model for the compressive failure of flax fiber composites. We used a micromechanics-based constitutive model reported recently [1]. It describes the microstructure of a unidirectional composite and captures the material behavior of the fiber and matrix constituents, respectively. The description has been formulated in the reference configuration (i.e. the undeformed state of the composite) and is therefore independent of fiber rotations that may appear during the deformation of the composite. A hyperelastic finite deformation plasticity with power law hardening [3] mimics the compressive elastic-plastic stress-strain response of the fiber (reported in [2]) and the matrix. The model has been extended to account for fiber damage, resulting in a thermodynamically consistent continuum damage micromechanics model. Our results indicate that fiber damage plays an utmost role in the compressive failure of flax fiber composites – it is a major determinant of the material’s compressive stress-strain response. X-ray Computed Tomography and Scanning Electron Microscopy show that fiber damage can be attributed to intra-fiber splitting and elementary fiber crushing.