Purpose: Using the global financial crisis as a critical event and based on institutional theory and stakeholder theory, this paper aims to explore the relationship between corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The question is how stakeholders can influence corporate responses to societal change by using their position in the governance structure. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis is based on a historical analysis of data collected mainly between 2002 and 2004. The historical perspective enables an understanding of the response of the company to environmental changes. Findings: The approach enables researchers to relate the normative component of CSR to specific governance mechanisms. These governance mechanisms are specified in direct and indirect influence pathways. Historical data shed light on how, in the upbeat of the crisis, stakeholders have influenced the principles and policies of the ING Group, a Dutch financial company. Research limitations/implications: The paper suggests that stakeholders influence principles – normative assumptions that guide corporate decisions – mainly in dialogue-based meetings (direct influence pathways). Companies are made accountable in indirect influence pathways such as regulations. The author also demonstrates that a historical approach enables an understanding of long-term historical developments and the linking of corporate policies to the normative assumptions of stakeholders. Practical implications: If stakeholders wish to assess the social responsibility of a company, then they should assess the governance structure in relation to the principles and policies. The power structure within a company and that within the institutional framework in which the company operates (the governance system) strongly influences how a company executes its social responsibilities. Social implications: The paper demonstrates how stakeholders can use the governance structure to influence a bank. If society – or a specific group in society – wants banks to play a different role, this paper points to what could be the levers of change in the governance system and the governance structure. Originality/value: Insights into the complex relationship between corporate governance and the processes in which the social responsibilities of a company are developed.
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This paper describes prototypes for transition pathways towards inclusive, sustainable development for seven regions in five European Countries. The approach for developing transition pathways was based on three theoretical building blocks. First, the ABCD-Roadmap that outlines the various steps to be developed in the design process of the transition pathway, secondly, the Socio-Ecological-System framework was used to describe the current situation and analyze the interactions within the system and lastly, the X-curve model provided guidance in categorizing activities and policies that should be adapted, developed new or stopped. The international team showed how transition pathways for sustainable development can be developed in different contexts and scale levels, all over Europe. The resulting advice can be helpful to professionals active in regional development, on municipal, provincial, national, or European level.
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Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) are conceptual frameworks that tie an initial perturbation (molecular initiat- ing event) to a phenotypic toxicological manifestation (adverse outcome), through a series of steps (key events). They provide therefore a standardized way to map and organize toxicological mechanistic information. As such, AOPs inform on key events underlying toxicity, thus supporting the development of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), which aim to reduce the use of animal testing for toxicology purposes. However, the establishment of a novel AOP relies on the gathering of multiple streams of evidence and infor- mation, from available literature to knowledge databases. Often, this information is in the form of free text, also called unstructured text, which is not immediately digestible by a computer. This information is thus both tedious and increasingly time-consuming to process manually with the growing volume of data available. The advance- ment of machine learning provides alternative solutions to this challenge. To extract and organize information from relevant sources, it seems valuable to employ deep learning Natural Language Processing techniques. We review here some of the recent progress in the NLP field, and show how these techniques have already demonstrated value in the biomedical and toxicology areas. We also propose an approach to efficiently and reliably extract and combine relevant toxicological information from text. This data can be used to map underlying mechanisms that lead to toxicological effects and start building quantitative models, in particular AOPs, ultimately allowing animal-free human-based hazard and risk assessment.
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I argue that a governance perspective on corporate social responsibility (CSR) makes it possible to explain why the concept will always be under-defined, is normative and thus political by nature, and is and should be difficult to measure. The perspective also makes it possible to understand the interaction between corporate values and stakeholders values.In processes of dialogue within governance systems and governance structures, changing insights into the principles of CSR can lead to regulation or its adjustment. Power is important in these dialogues. Principles are at least partly shaped within governance systems and governance structures, and they influence the outcomes of corporate policies. Changes within the regulatory framework could also lead to changes in the principles of CSR.Value attunement processes could lead to regulation, which again influences the governance structures and thus the power of stakeholders within the dialogue. The theoretical model provided helps to analyze why CSR is different in companies, cultures and academic traditions.
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IL22 is an important cytokine involved in the intestinal defense mechanisms against microbiome. By using ileum-derived organoids, we show that the expression of anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) and anti-viral peptides (AVPs) can be induced by IL22. In addition, we identified a bacterial and a viral route, both leading to IL22 production by T cells, but via different pathways. Bacterial products, such as LPS, induce enterocyte-secreted SAA1, which triggers the secretion of IL6 in fibroblasts, and subsequently IL22 in T cells. This IL22 induction can then be enhanced by macrophage-derived TNFα in two ways: by enhancing the responsiveness of T cells to IL6 and by increasing the expression of IL6 by fibroblasts. Viral infections of intestinal cells induce IFNβ1 and subsequently IL7. IFNβ1 can induce the expression of IL6 in fibroblasts and the combined activity of IL6 and IL7 can then induce IL22 expression in T cells. We also show that IL22 reduces the expression of viral entry receptors (e.g. ACE2, TMPRSS2, DPP4, CD46 and TNFRSF14), increases the expression of anti-viral proteins (e.g. RSAD2, AOS, ISG20 and Mx1) and, consequently, reduces the viral infection of neighboring cells. Overall, our data indicates that IL22 contributes to the innate responses against both bacteria and viruses.
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Introduction: The implementation of oncology care pathways that standardize organizational procedures has improved cancer care in recent years. However, the involvement of “authentic” patients and caregivers in quality improvement of these predetermined pathways is in its infancy, especially the scholarly reflection on this process. We, therefore, aim to explore the multidisciplinary challenges both in practice, when cancer patients, their caregivers, and a multidisciplinary team of professionals work together on quality improvement, as well as in our research team, in which a social scientist, health care professionals, health care researchers, and experience experts design a research project together. Methods and design: Experience-based co-design will be used to involve cancer patients and their caregivers in a qualitative research design. In-depth open discovery interviews with 12 colorectal cancer patients, 12 breast cancer patients, and seven patients with cancer-associated thrombosis and their caregivers, and focus group discussions with professionals from various disciplines will be conducted. During the subsequent prioritization events and various co-design quality improvement meetings, observational field notes will be made on the multidisciplinary challenges these participants face in the process of co-design, and evaluation interviews will be done afterwards. Similar data will be collected during the monthly meetings of our multidisciplinary research team. The data will be analyzed according to the constant comparative method. Discussion: This study may facilitate quality improvement programs in oncologic care pathways, by increasing our real-world knowledge about the challenges of involving “experience experts” together with a team of multidisciplinary professionals in the implementation process of quality improvement. Such co-creation might be challenging due to the traditional paternalistic relationship, actual disease-/treatment-related constraints, and a lack of shared language and culture between patients, caregivers, and professionals and between professionals from various disciplines. These challenges have to be met in order to establish equality, respect, team spirit, and eventual meaningful participation.
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African citizens are increasingly being surveilled, profiled, and targeted online in ways that violate their rights. African governments frequently use pandemic or terrorism-related security risks to grant themselves additional surveillance rights and significantly increase their collection of monitoring apparatus and technologies while spending billions of dollars to conduct surveillance (Roberts et al. 2023). Surveillance is a prominent strategy African governments use to limit civic space (Roberts and Mohamed Ali 2021). Digital technologies are not the root of surveillance in Africa because surveillance practices predate the digital age (Munoriyarwa and Mare 2023). Surveillance practices were first used by colonial governments, continued by post-colonial governments, and are currently being digitalized and accelerated by African countries. Throughout history, surveillance has been passed down from colonizers to liberators, and some African leaders have now automated it (Roberts et al. 2023). Many studies have been conducted on illegal state surveillance in the United States, China, and Europe (Feldstein 2019; Feldstein 2021). Less is known about the supply of surveillance technologies to Africa. With a population of almost 1.5 billion people, Africa is a continent where many citizens face surveillance with malicious intent. As mentioned in previous chapters, documenting the dimensions and drivers of digital surveillance in Africa is
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Cyber-dependent crime is a growing global threat. However, research on cybercrime offending throughout the life course, especially on the factors leading to initiation and desistance of cyber-dependent crime remains underdeveloped. This paper synthesizes the literature on pathways into, desistance from, and risk factors related to cyber-dependent crime (hacking, malware, and DDoS attacks), and identifies research gaps. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we conducted a systematic search and identified 86 eligible documents published as of February 2022. Results reveal a pathway into hacking through interest in technology and online videogames, which continues with social learning from peers involved in hacking activities, and thus leads to the world of cybercrime. Desistance from this pathway is influenced by a cost-benefit analysis and maturing. We also identified 27 risk factors for the initiation process in cyber-offending that are consistent in the literature. The most significant ones were being young, male, having low self-control, deviant peers, and frequently using the Internet. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in [JOURNAL TITLE] on [date of publication], available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/[Article DOI
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Financial-economic cyber-enabled crime (hereinafter: financial cybercrime) has increased dramatically over the past years. However, research on financial cybercrime is still underdeveloped and highly heterogeneous, especially regarding the processes of initiation to and desistance from crime. This paper synthesizes existing knowledge on pathways into, desistance from, and risk factors related to financial cybercrime, and identifies research gaps. Adhering to PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we executed a systematic search and identified 37 eligible documents published as of February 2022, indicating two initiation points into financial cybercrime: involvement in traditional crime, and experiencing strain. Through social learning, individuals then learn the necessary skills and knowledge and engage in financial cybercrime, after which the decision to desist is influenced by a cost-benefit analysis, the use of neutralization techniques, and maturing. As for risk factors, we identified 33, with being male, unemployed, having low self-control and deviant peers, and wanting to earn money quickly being of potential importance. Regarding research gaps, there is a dearth of research related to the initiation and desistance processes of financial cybercrime, and the identified studies lacked a robust research designs, with 76 percent being of low or medium quality. More quality research is needed to address these issues.
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Background: Continuing professional development (CPD) in nursing is defined as ‘a life-long process of active participation in learning activities that assist in developing and maintaining continuing competences, enhancing professional practice and supporting achievement of career goals’. Research has shown that inability to access resources and activities for CPD influences quality of care and adversely affects nurses’ satisfaction, recruitment and retention. Although more and more research regarding CPD is done, a comprehensive overview about the needs of nurses for successful CPD is missing. Conclusions: All nurses strive for CPD. However, organizations need to recognize nurses' personal goals and unique strategies as this leads to different needs in CPD. In addition, resources must be made available and accessible before CPD can be successfully pursued by all nurses.
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