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The network economy typically signifies a notion from the information society where new products and services are developed by collaborating individuals and/or businesses organised in virtual networks. The network economy has important characteristics in common with Northern European governance models, which suggests a direction for developing workable governance models for businesses engaging in network economy activities. This resemblance presents a unique perspective on global economic development. Innovation can and should be combined with high ethical, social and environmental standards. This is illustrated by empirical data on Hidden Champions in Europe: middlesized companies that are dominant in their specific market niches. We suggest that the rise of the network economy could have far-reaching consequences for the way businesses should be organised and managed.
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New immersive technologies and COVID lockdowns increase the attention for Virtual Reality Pornography (VRP). In this study, heterosexual women were interviewed about the effect of realism in VRP, using a new VRP Role-framework based on six dimensions. Results showed that VRP evokes strong negative and positive emotions. Different types of realism evoked confusion around fidelity and pornography and triggered different relationship boundaries, roles, and rules. Feelings of betrayal and fidelity seemed less when the partner experiences 360° recorded VRP (VR-type-dimension) alone (companion-dimension). Acceptance and confusion appear high around shared computer-generated experiences with control over avatars (interactive-dimension) that look like the self (resemblance-dimension). Feelings of doubt and betrayal seem high when the partner experiences VRP with strangers using realistic-looking avatars (realism-dimension) that resemble (well)known persons or the partner. This study helps companies explore ways to improve VRP content while considering ethical questions society raises concerning VRP’s impact on relationships.
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This study reports on strategies to indicate plural referents in hearing learners of Sign Language of the Netherlands. This is the first explorative study that focuses on L2 expressions of plurality in a sign language. Using data from two datasets, I examined when learners start to express plural and which strategies they apply, and I noted typical learner characteristics. The first study examined spontaneous conversations of three learners, during the first 18 months of their learning. The second study analyzed elicited data from 11 learners during their first year of learning. The data reveal that learners are able to express plural referents in early stages, using strategies that are familiar to them (quantifiers) as well as strategies that do not occur in their mother tongue (reduplication of the noun, use of spatial devices). The early emergence might be explained by the salient nature of the devices and the resemblance with gestural portrayals.
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Despite decades of residence, Turkish-Dutch citizens, one of the largest immigrant groups in the Netherlands, continue to face significant disparities in health, social, and economic factors compared to native Dutch citizens. To better understand this persistent disparity, we examined the acculturation process of Turkish-Dutch citizens across three generations. Our study addressed two critical research gaps: (1) acculturation processes across three generations within a specific immigrant group, and (2) different acculturation domains across these generations. Data from 464 participants (232 Turkish-Dutch, 232 Dutch) show that acculturation varies significantly across generations (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) and domains (i.e., national identification, cultural values, language, and media use), with the second generation demonstrating the strongest resemblance to native Dutch citizens in most domains. These findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of acculturation processes and confirm the need for future research to consider generational differences and domain-specificity. The results have potential implications for policymakers and practitioners aiming to reduce disparities of Turkish-Dutch citizens with tailored policy and communication strategies.
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The relationship between project management and sustainable development is rapidly gaining interest from both practitioners and academics. Studies on the integration of the concepts of sustainability into project management, approach this topic mostly from a conceptual, logical or moral point of view. Given the fact that the relationship between sustainability and project management is still an emerging field of study, these approaches make sense. However, they do not diminish the need for more empirical studies to understand how the concepts of sustainable development are implemented in practice. This paper reports an analysis of 56 case studies on the integration of the concepts of sustainability in the way organizations initiate, develop and manage projects. The research question of the study was: To what extent, do organizations consider the concepts of sustainability in the initiation, development and management of projects? The study uses the maturity model for sustainability integration that was presented at the 2010 IPMA World Congress for the assessment of the level of sustainability consideration. The study found an overall average level of sustainability consideration in the actual situation of 25.9%. For the desired situation, this score is almost 10 percent higher, showing an ambition to take sustainability more into consideration. The study also showed that the way sustainability currently is considered, shows the traditional ‘less bad’ approach to sustainability integration and not a more modern social responsibility approach.
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This article deals with automatic object recognition. The goal is that in a certain grey-level image, possibly containing many objects, a certain object can be recognized and localized, based upon its shape. The assumption is that this shape has no special characteristics on which a dedicated recognition algorithm can be based (e.g. if we know that the object is circular, we could use a Hough transform or if we know that it is the only object with grey level 90, we can simply use thresholding). Our starting point is an object with a random shape. The image in which the object is searched is called the Search Image. A well known technique for this is Template Matching, which is described first.
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To examine the association of adolescents' snack and soft drink consumption with friendship group snack and soft drink consumption, availability of snacks and soft drinks at school, and personal characteristics, snack and soft drink consumption was assessed in 749 adolescents (398 girls, 351 boys, age 12.4 - 17.6 years), and their friends, and snack and soft drink availability at schools was measured. In regression analysis, consumption by friends, snack and soft drink availability within school, and personal characteristics (age, gender, education level, body mass index) were examined as determinants of snack and drink consumption. Snack and soft drink consumption was higher in boys, soft drink consumption was higher in lower educated adolescents, and snack consumption was higher in adolescents with a lower body weight. Peer group snack and soft drink consumption were associated with individual intake, particularly when availability in the canteen and vending machines was high. The association between individual and peer snack consumption was strong in boys, adolescents with a lower education level, and adolescents with lower body weights. Our study shows that individual snack and soft drink consumption is associated with specific combinations of consumption by peers, availability at school, and personal characteristics.
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From the article: Abstract: An overview of neural network architectures is presented. Some of these architectures have been created in recent years, whereas others originate from many decades ago. Apart from providing a practical tool for comparing deep learning models, the Neural Network Zoo also uncovers a taxonomy of network architectures, their chronology, and traces back lineages and inspirations for these neural information processing systems.
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