This study provides ERP and oscillatory dynamics data associated with the comprehension of narratives involving counterfactual events. Participants were given short stories describing an initial situation ("Marta wanted to plant flowers in her garden...."), followed by a critical sentence describing a new situation in either a factual ("Since she found a spade, she started to dig a hole") or counterfactual format ("If she had found a spade, she would have started to dig a hole"), and then a continuation sentence that was either related to the initial situation ("she bought a spade") or to the new one ("she planted roses"). The ERPs recorded for the continuation sentences related to the initial situation showed larger negativity after factuals than after counterfactuals, suggesting that the counterfactual's presupposition - the events did not occur - prevents updating the here-and-now of discourse. By contrast, continuation sentences related to the new situation elicited similar ERPs under both factual and counterfactual contexts, suggesting that counterfactuals also activate momentarily an alternative "as if" meaning. However, the reduction of gamma power following counterfactuals, suggests that the "as if" meaning is not integrated into the discourse, nor does it contribute to semantic unification processes.
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This article investigates gender bias in narratives generated by Large Language Models (LLMs) through a two-phase study. Building on our existing work in narrative generation, we employ a structured methodology to analyze the influence of protagonist gender on both the generation and classification of fictional stories. In Phase 1, factual narratives were generated using six LLMs, guided by predefined narrative structures (Hero's Journey and Heroine's Journey). Gender bias was quantified through specialized metrics and statistical analyses, revealing significant disparities in protagonist gender distribution and associations with narrative archetypes. In Phase 2, counterfactual narratives were constructed by altering the protagonists’ genders while preserving all other narrative elements. These narratives were then classified by the same LLMs to assess how gender influences their interpretation of narrative structures. Results indicate that LLMs exhibit difficulty in disentangling the protagonist's gender from the narrative structure, often using gender as a heuristic to classify stories. Male protagonists in emotionally driven narratives were frequently misclassified as following the Heroine's Journey, while female protagonists in logic-driven conflicts were misclassified as adhering to the Hero's Journey. These findings provide empirical evidence of embedded gender biases in LLM-generated narratives, highlighting the need for bias mitigation strategies in AI-driven storytelling to promote diversity and inclusivity in computational narrative generation.
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Expectations are high for digital technologies to address sustainability related challenges. While research into such applications and the twin transformation is growing rapidly, insights in the actual daily practices of digital sustainability within organizations is lacking. This is problematic as the contributions of digital tools to sustainability goals gain shape in organizational practices. To bridge this gap, we develop a theoretical perspective on digital sustainability practices based on practice theory, with an emphasis on the concept of sociomateriality. We argue that connecting meanings related to sustainability with digital technologies is essential to establish beneficial practices. Next, we contend that the meaning of sustainability is contextspecific, which calls for a local meaning making process. Based on our theoretical exploration we develop an empirical research agenda.
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In this paper, we explore the design of web-based advice robots to enhance users' confidence in acting upon the provided advice. Drawing from research on algorithm acceptance and explainable AI, we hypothesise four design principles that may encourage interactivity and exploration, thus fostering users' confidence to act. Through a value-oriented prototype experiment and valueoriented semi-structured interviews, we tested these principles, confirming three of them and identifying an additional principle. The four resulting principles: (1) put context questions and resulting advice on one page and allow live, iterative exploration, (2) use action or change oriented questions to adjust the input parameters, (3) actively offer alternative scenarios based on counterfactuals, and (4) show all options instead of only the recommended one(s), appear to contribute to the values of agency and trust. Our study integrates the Design Science Research approach with a Value Sensitive Design approach.
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In this paper, we explore the design of web-based advice robots to enhance users' confidence in acting upon the provided advice. Drawing from research on algorithm acceptance and explainable AI, we hypothesise four design principles that may encourage interactivity and exploration, thus fostering users' confidence to act. Through a value-oriented prototype experiment and value-oriented semi-structured interviews, we tested these principles, confirming three of them and identifying an additional principle. The four resulting principles: (1) put context questions and resulting advice on one page and allow live, iterative exploration, (2) use action or change oriented questions to adjust the input parameters, (3) actively offer alternative scenarios based on counterfactuals, and (4) show all options instead of only the recommended one(s), appear to contribute to the values of agency and trust. Our study integrates the Design Science Research approach with a Value Sensitive Design approach.
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Although causal inference has shown great value in estimating effect sizes in, for instance, physics, medical studies, and economics, it is rarely used in sports science. Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation (TMLE) is a modern method for performing causal inference. TMLE is forgiving in the misspecification of the causal model and improves the estimation of effect sizes using machine-learning methods. We demonstrate the advantage of TMLE in sports science by comparing the calculated effect size with a Generalized Linear Model (GLM). In this study, we introduce TMLE and provide a roadmap for making causal inference and apply the roadmap along with the methods mentioned above in a simulation study and case study investigating the influence of substitutions on the physical performance of the entire soccer team (i.e., the effect size of substitutions on the total physical performance). We construct a causal model, a misspecified causal model, a simulation dataset, and an observed tracking dataset of individual players from 302 elite soccer matches. The simulation dataset results show that TMLE outperforms GLM in estimating the effect size of the substitutions on the total physical performance. Furthermore, TMLE is most robust against model misspecification in both the simulation and the tracking dataset. However, independent of the method used in the tracking dataset, it was found that substitutes increase the physical performance of the entire soccer team.
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It is well-documented that international enterprises are more productive. Only few studies have explored the effect of internationalization on productivity and innovation at the firm-level. Using propensity score matching we analyze the causal effects of internationalization on innovation in 10 transition economies. We distinguish between three types of internationalization: exporting, FDI, and international outsourcing. We find that internationalization causes higher levels of innovation. More specifically, we show that (i) exporting results in more R&D, higher sales from product innovation, and an increase in the number of international patents (ii) outward FDI increases R&D and international patents (iii) international outsourcing leads to higher sales from product innovation. The paper provides empirical support to the theoretical literature on heterogeneous firms in international trade that argues that middle income countries gain from trade liberalization through increases in firm productivity and innovative capabilities.
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Financial constraints and risk taking are two well-established determinants of firm performance, however, no research analyzes how these variables are connected in the context of a high risk environment. Using data from microfinance clients in Tanzania, we derive a novel financial constraints measure and incorporate a psychometric risk taking scale. Results confirm the importance of access to finance and risk attitudes for business development. Also, we provide preliminary evidence for an interaction between financial constraints and risk taking. Financial constraints “throw sand in the wheels” and protect risk taking entrepreneurs from the negative impact of risk taking on microenterprise performance.
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In this paper the Feltscaping-method is described, its characteristics and requirements, and some examples of how it was used and further developed. In doing so this paper aims at embedding feltscaping into the existing discourse of arts-based research. Furthermore, it will reflect on possibilities for further development of the Feltscaping method.The development of the method started seven years ago, as Cora Jongsma as a way of delving into the different layers of the landscape connected with the landscape. The product of this process is a feltscape, a representation of the landscape made up of several layers of wool that tells a story about a specific area. The layering in the feltscape, in the beginning, was purely the result of interaction between the creative process, conversations with land users, landscape research and visual experience, drawing a parallel to the formation process of the landscape. Starting as a personal search of the artist on how to connect the feltscapes to the landscape, after a few years, developed into an instrument to stimulate good conversation with people that in one way or another are connected to the landscape. In this way, feltscapes enable the researcher to test and exchange own sensory perceptions and to extent existing knowledge or questions about the landscape by eliciting social interactions.
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Deze publicatie is een voortvloeisel van het Time line Gallery project. In dit project bundelden ontwerpbureau DesignArbeid, het lectoraat Image in Context van Academy Minerva en kunstruimte Sign de krachten om jonge kunstenaars in staat te stellen om in door henzelf gevormde teams de mogelijkheden van de publieke ruimte begin 21 eeuw te onderzoeken en zichtbaar te maken. De straat als galery waarin projecten in een tijdslijn na elkaar eigen vormen van counter public space (Klug ..) kunnen realiseren. De kunstenaars zetten zich uiteen met actuele kwesties waarvoor nieuwe vormen van uitwisseling en participatie werden ontwikkeld: de klimaatcrisis tastbaar in het stijgende water, de rol van de vrouw binnen de studentenvereniging, vervreemding in het publiek domein, ons koloniaal verleden zichtbaar in onze publieke ruimte, propaganda achter grote stadsevents, het gemak waarmee ons fakenews op de mouw gespeld kan worden en de wijze waarop publiek en privaat domein in elkaar overlopen.De vraag die voor ons allen leidend is: Hoe kunnen kunstenaars en ontwerpers interventies doen die eraan bijdragen dat we als autonoom denkende mensen weer verbinding krijgen met wat Bruno Latour (2019) het Aardse noemt. Het Aardse als zijnde een concept dat ons helpt om de richting aan te geven waarheen we ons moeten bewegen in een bewustzijn dat de wereld niet meer bestaat uit een omgeving waar mensen zich in bevinden, maar uit een krachtenveld, een ecologie, waar we onderdeel van zijn. De onderzoekers van het lectoraat zoeken de conceptuele invalshoeken die ons helpen om zichtbaar te maken welke mogelijkheden de kunst heeft om het hoofd te bieden aan de vele vormen van propaganda en disciplinering in het begin van de 21 e eeuw die dit onmogelijk willen maken. Daarom vindt u in deze publicatie naast een schets van de verschillende interventies die de deelnemende kunstenaars ontwikkelden, ook de verschillende conceptuele perspectieven waar de onderzoekers uit het lectoraat mee werken.De hier gepresenteerde artistieke praktijken zijn een moment in de ontwikkeling van de kunstenaars, het gevolg van een scala aan ontmoetingen die eraan vooraf zijn gegaan en de consekwentie van een dynamiek die ze op een geven moment met elkaar in gang hebben durven zetten. Zonder de moed tot handelen was er nooit iets gebeurd. De gepresenteerde concepten zijn de diepe gronden waar een onderzoeker pas na verloop van tijd op durft te gaan bouwen. Deze concepten kunnen iets teweegbrengen. In de ontmoetingen kan het concept zich gronden en verbreden en kunnen de artistieke praktijken nieuwe betekenislagen krijgen. Samen helpen ze ons reflecteren op de nieuwe rollen van kunstenaars en ontwerpers in de openbare ruimte als publiek domein.
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