Shared Interests Research Articles

Data sharing in food supply chains and the feasibility of cross-chain data platforms for added value

Data analysis and data sharing is becoming increasingly important for creating value in the food supply chain. Readily available data is often already shared between supply chain parties, but to achieve additional benefits these parties will have to invest in additional data capturing. Especially product identity-claims, such as sustainable, equitable, or traceable from farm to fork, require transparency of all parties participating in a supply chain and necessitate investments that unlock the required data. This poses problems in supply chains where power is distributed. Typically, supply chains benefitting from the opportunities of data sharing have a higher degree of vertical integration, in which the power of a purchasing party forces suppliers to invest in data capture and exchange. Such investments are not always a possibility: food supply chains can have a dynamic set of participants, meaning that part of the supplier-purchaser relations is discontinuous or even ad-hoc, making investments in chain-specific data infrastructure unattractive for the chain parties involved. Cross-chain data platforms could contribute to solve such problems, although such initiatives have also generally been pushed by dominant supply chain parties. This limits the scope of application of such platforms. In this research, we discuss the feasibility of cross-chain platforms based on case studies with seafood, fresh fruit, fruit juice and processed potato supply chains in the Netherlands. Five dimensions appear to determine the fit with a cross-chain data platform: (i) shared interest in supply chain performance and data sharing, (ii) parallel chains and dynamic chain composition, (iii) alignment in incentives for data collection, (iv) degree of digitisation, and (v) revenue model for data sharing and collaboration.

Modern Socratic Dialogue and Resilient Democracy: Creating the Clearing for an American Bildung

Modern Socratic Dialogue and Resilient Democracy: Creating the Clearing for an American Bildung

The electric vehicle and renewable energy: Changes in boundary conditions that enhance business model innovations

Business model innovation consists of new ways of defining, creating, and capturing value including non-monetary value, and is an indicator of crossing traditional sector boundaries, thereby providing the necessary agency to achieve significant new market opportunities around technological innovation. Individual businesses may lack the scope or depth of competencies required, especially in the case of entrenched industrial structures, framings, regulatory provision, and consumer attitudes. Business models are thus potentially ossified within highly structured socio-technical systems. This article analyses innovation in business models arising from the confluence of two mature and stable industries under conditions of external pressure, deregulation, privatisation, and the emergence of a new, shared interest. We illustrate the paper with examples of vehicle manufacturers developing business concepts for vehicle-to-grid, domestic energy, second life, and industrial electricity provision from renewable energy. We find that in the period 2012 to 2020, 17 vehicle manufacturers used 38 electric models to test a diverse menu of options established from four applications with changes in boundary conditions that have influenced business model innovation. This process created space for energy policy and mobility policy to become increasingly intertwined as battery electric vehicles enter the mass market, raising questions over the future of automobility as well as electricity generation and distribution.

Investigating the political economy of the territory: The contradictory responses of organisations to spatial inequality

The spatial imaginations of organisations can be particularly insightful for examining power relations. However, only recently they have gone beyond the limits of the workplace, demonstrating the role of the territory for organised action, particularly in mobilising solidarity for resistance. In this article, I investigate power relations revealed by the political economy of the territory to explain contradictory actions undertaken by organisations. Specifically, I adopt the theoretical framework of the noted Brazilian geographer Milton Santos, who recognises spatial multiplicity and fragmentation while maintaining an appreciation of the structural conditions of the political economy. This perspective is particularly useful for the analysis of civil society organisations (CSOs) in a Brazilian favela (slum), given the context of high inequality perpetuated by the selective flows of urban development. First, I show that the history of favelas and their role in the territorial division of labour explain the profiles of existing organisations. Then, I examine how the political engagement of CSOs with distinct solidarities results in a dialectical tension that leads to both resistance based on local shared interests and the active reproduction of central spaces even if the ends are not shared. The article contributes to the literature of space and organisations by explaining how territorial dynamics mediate power relations within and across organisations, not only as resistance but also as the active reproduction of economic and political regimes.

Polarization and tipping points

Research has documented increasing partisan division and extremist positions that are more pronounced among political elites than among voters. Attention has now begun to focus on how polarization might be attenuated. We use a general model of opinion change to see if the self-reinforcing dynamics of influence and homophily may be characterized by tipping points that make reversibility problematic. The model applies to a legislative body or other small, densely connected organization, but does not assume country-specific institutional arrangements that would obscure the identification of fundamental regularities in the phase transitions. Agents in the model have initially random locations in a multidimensional issue space consisting of membership in one of two equal-sized parties and positions on 10 issues. Agents then update their issue positions by moving closer to nearby neighbors and farther from those with whom they disagree, depending on the agents' tolerance of disagreement and strength of party identification compared to their ideological commitment to the issues. We conducted computational experiments in which we manipulated agents' tolerance for disagreement and strength of party identification. Importantly, we also introduced exogenous shocks corresponding to events that create a shared interest against a common threat (e.g., a global pandemic). Phase diagrams of political polarization reveal difficult-to-predict transitions that can be irreversible due to asymmetric hysteresis trajectories. We conclude that future empirical research needs to pay much closer attention to the identification of tipping points and the effectiveness of possible countermeasures.

A cross-sectional survey investigating wheelchair skills training in Ireland

Purpose Wheelchair skills trainings are a vital aspect wheelchair provision yet are arguably overlooked and extent to which training is provided in the Irish context is highly variable. The primary aim of this study was to quantify whether a need exists to further develop wheelchair skills training in Ireland. Methods A cross sectional survey was conducted using SurveyMonkeyTM. Irish health professionals involved in wheelchair service delivery were asked how they offer wheelchair skills trainings and what components of wheelchair skills they train. To collect qualitative information, questions also explored how health professionals would like training to develop. Results Consensus among respondents was that training is often provided to new users (n = 91, 89%), however, it is limited to mostly transfers and simple mobility techniques. Further, it was reported that advanced mobility skills are sometimes (n = 81, 51%) or never taught (n = 81, 21%). The respondent’s confidence instructing various skills corresponded with the frequency of instruction. The responses captured a shared interest in developing standardised training programs and the development of continued education training in the area. Conclusion The findings from this study reinforce that a present need exists to further develop wheelchair skills training in Ireland, with the aim of improving Irish wheelchair service providers’ knowledge and confidence in advanced wheelchair skills needed to mobilise and perform activities of daily living. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Current clinical practice in Irish wheelchair service delivery includes basic wheelchair skills training, whereas training in advanced skills needed for improved independent mobility is highly variable. This study raises awareness that health professionals seek formal education and training in wheelchair skills to improve their knowledge and confidence in providing wheelchair skills training. There is a need to develop wheelchair skills training opportunities, both as a requirement for stakeholders involved in wheelchair provision and to address an unmet need for wheelchair users.

“A different environment for success:” a mixed-methods exploration of social participation outcomes among adolescents on the autism spectrum in an inclusive, interest-based school club

Background: Adolescents on the autism spectrum often experience challenges participating socially in inclusive education. The majority of school-based social supports focuses on social skills training, although research shows that students on the spectrum prefer activity-based social groups over social instructions. Thus, activity-based school clubs incorporating student interests may support social participation. Method: This mixed-methods study explored the preliminary social participation outcomes of adolescents on the spectrum in an inclusive Maker Club at three public schools. The quantitative phase examined longitudinal social behavior rates throughout the school club among students (n = 12). The qualitative phase interviewed six teachers in three schools (n = 6) to explore teacher perceptions of student social outcomes compared to general classrooms and program outcomes associated with the programs. Results: Mixed-effects modeling revealed increased social response rates and social reciprocity over time in both students on the spectrum and non-autistic peers without any group differences. Teachers reported that students on the spectrum engaged more socially than in general classrooms and attributed the positive outcomes to activities encouraging shared interests and the flexible social environment. Conclusions: Inclusive school clubs incorporating shared interests and joint activities among students may socially support students on the spectrum in inclusive education.

Assessing the Influence of Different Interest Groups on International Tax Policy: Evidence from the BEPS Project*

ABSTRACTThis study investigates the influence of three interest groups—businesses, the tax profession, and civil society—on tax rules in the context of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. Our study is important as prior research has not examined the direct influence of various interest groups on the content of tax rules by means of comment letters. Using content analysis, we seek to explain the lobbying success of the different interest groups by examining the relevance of the kind of information transmitted and the alliance strategies used. Results indicate that lobbying success is mainly explained by the vested interests of the three groups, with businesses less successful than the other two interest groups as long as all interest groups are equally able to provide information. We also find that the lobbying success of businesses increases when proposals require specific expertise. However, bias is still relevant for lobbying success as we find that proposals from tax professionals with practical experience, likely to reflect less bias, are relatively more successful than proposals from businesses. Furthermore, our results suggest that mobilizing commenters who have a shared interest in the form of alliances is a promising lobbying strategy. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of expertise and collective actions for lobbying success.

Problems and prospects for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

AbstractThe South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established to enlighten self‐interest based on a common desire to supersede conflict with cooperation, to displace mistrust with harmony, and to eradicate poverty with economic integration in this region. Nonetheless, it could not achieve these goals completely due to a lack of cooperation among member states. Specifically, SAARC has been crippled by the shadow of power politics between two nuclear powers: India and Pakistan. Its agendas, policies, and programs have remained unfulfilled as a result. The prospect of the rejuvenation of SAARC is not a Herculean matter. It could be achieved by introducing new ideas and plans; that is, restructuring within it or expanding its membership. In this regard, this article argues that SAARC can be rejuvenated by including China as a full member. China's presence in SAARC would maintain a balance of power in this region, it would also boost the South Asian economy through trade, investment, and infrastructural development.Related ArticlesHuang, Xiaoming. 2007. “Do Asian Values Matter—for an East Asian Community?” Politics & Policy 35(1): 154–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2007.00052.xLevine, Steven. 2007. “Asian Values and the Asia Pacific Community: Shared Interests and Common Concerns.” Politics & Policy 35(1): 102–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2007.00050.xRavi, Chaitanya. 2021. “The 1971 Bangladesh War and Policy Lessons for Climate Refugee Management in South Asia.” Politics & Policy 49(1): 248–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12392

#AllCatsAreBeautiful: Ambient affiliation and the visual-verbal representation and appreciation of cats in online subversive discourses

This paper investigates the topics and affiliations associated with the hashtag #AllCatsAreBeautiful on the social media platform Twitter. Drawing on concepts from social semiotics (systemic functional theory) and critical animal studies, the paper identifies a number of potentially overlapping topics or fields, including anti-policing, the commodification of nonhuman animals, gender and sexism, and body image or body-shaming, as well as a more general positive appreciation or admiration of cats. The paper discusses how people position themselves in relation to those topics, through patterns of ideational and attitudinal meanings, and how cats are represented and appreciated visually, verbally and intersemiotically. Cats, in this context, play an important role in struggles for social justice, symbolizing freedom and resistance as well as love and solidarity. #AllCatsAreBeautiful highlights topics or spaces around which bonds can be made and communities of shared values or interests can be co-constructed.

3.C. Workshop: COVID-19 – Are students’ lives turned upside down? Findings from the C19 ISWS study

Abstract The SARS-CoV-2 outbreak and the corresponding COVID-19 pandemic has had and continues to have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of the general population globally. University students are in a unique position during the COVID-19 pandemic as they are confronted with substantial changes and restrictions, both at governmental and university-level. Stark changes to lifestyle include changes in social and academic life. In order to understand and investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student health and well-being, the COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study (C19 ISWS) was initiated early on in April 2020. Led by researchers at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, a survey questionnaire and protocol was written. Within a few weeks, researchers from 166 high education institutions in 26 different countries had agreed to run the survey in their respective institutions and data was collected from May- July 2020. Up until now, researchers involved in the C19 ISWS consortia have not met and thus far, only a limited amount of researchers have shared their findings. The European Public Health Conference provides a unique opportunity for researchers across countries to share and discuss key findings of the survey, including important public health messages that can be derived from the results of the survey. Presentations on study results of the C19 ISWS will be given by five presenters. Firstly, Prof. Sarah Van De Velde, principal investigator of the study, will provide an overview of the C19 ISWS study design, measures and procedures. Following this introductory talk, four presenters will provide insight into findings of the study at the international level as well as country-level from different regions with varying circumstances during the pandemic (Greece, Russia and Germany). Presentations will be scheduled for seven minutes with three minutes question, followed by a 10-minute discussion at the end. This will allow the audience time to interact with the findings. This works thus aims to provide an exchange and presentation on international as well as country-level findings of the C19 ISWS. Given the shared interest in student health and wellbeing, the joint workshop will provide a further opportunity for researchers to connect. In summary, the objectives of the workshop are: Share and discuss findings of the COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study Discuss implications of findings for student population internationally including possible measures of actions at individual, community-and structural level Connect researchers and practitioners interested in student health and well-being across Europe and internationally This workshop is aimed at researchers and practitioners with an interest in student health and wellbeing, particularly students in higher education. If possible, a list of attendees and contact details will be collected with participant's agreement and shared amongst all attendees of the workshop. Key messages The COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study (C19 ISWS) investigated the impact of the pandemic on students’ health, including students of 166 higher education institutions in 26 countries. Findings at country-and international level will be shared and discussed and implications for student’s health and wellbeing will be drawn.

USE OF RHETORIC IN MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING

This study aimed to analyze how identification worked as a key to persuasion among agents in Frontrow Enterprise, an MLM company. Specifically, it sought to find the prevalent source of identification, identification strategy used by the Frontrow agents in their speeches, and their level of persuasion. This study employed descriptive-qualitative design which utilized critical analysis using the Theory of Identification and Consubstantiality. Results show that the highest frequency source of identification found in the speeches is the idealistic identification and the highest frequency identification strategy is the common ground. Based on the findings of the study, it can be concluded that persuasion is manifested using shared interest, attitude, perceptions, values, beliefs, and ideas through establishing common grounds with the audience. KEYWORDS: Multi-level Marketing, Identification and Consubstantiality, Level of Persuasion, Agents’ Speeches, Sources of Identification, Identification Strategies

Camera-Based Lane Detection—Can Yellow Road Markings Facilitate Automated Driving in Snow?

Road markings are beneficial to human drivers, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and automated driving systems (ADS); on the contrary, snow coverage on roads poses a challenge to all three of these groups with respect to lane detection, as white road markings are difficult to distinguish from snow. Indeed, yellow road markings provide a visual contrast to snow that can increase a human drivers’ visibility. Yet, in spite of this fact, yellow road markings are becoming increasingly rare in Europe due to the high costs of painting and maintaining two road marking colors. More importantly, in conjunction with our increased reliance on automated driving, the question of whether yellow road markings are of value to automatic lane detection functions arises. To answer this question, images from snowy conditions are assessed to see how different representations of colors in images (color spaces) affect the visibility levels of white and yellow road markings. The results presented in this paper suggest that yellow markings provide a certain number of benefits for automated driving, offering recommendations as to what the most appropriate color spaces are for detecting lanes in snowy conditions. To obtain the safest and most cost-efficient roads in the future, both human and automated drivers’ actions must be considered. Road authorities and car manufacturers also have a shared interest in discovering how road infrastructure design, including road marking, can be adapted to support automated driving.

Troops and Tribes: Masculinity, Playing Indian, and the Social Politics of Ernest Thompson Seton's Expulsion from the Boy Scouts of America

Troops and Tribes: Masculinity, Playing Indian, and the Social Politics of Ernest Thompson Seton's Expulsion from the Boy Scouts of America

Constitution as Social Contract in Contemporary Ethiopia: The Need to Re-construct Political Arrangements

Constitutions represent social contracts that accommodate subjective interests of groups within the framework of impersonal shared interests among citizens of the society at large. This article examines the contemporary social contract theory in relation to the constitutional making process in Ethiopia. The lawmaking process of Ethiopia’s 1995 Constitution does not fulfil the procedural legitimacy of social contract because important sections of the society were neglected. The institutions created by the FDRE Constitution denote the subjectivist approaches to social contract theory thereby ignoring the impersonal interests of the society. To accommodate both the subjective ends and impersonal interests of the society, the Constitution should be reconstructed in light of the dualist contemporary social contract theory. This article argues that Ethiopia's contracting actors should consider both the subjective and impersonal interests of society. The article examines the conditions that make constitution a social contract. It also discusses the controversies concerning Ethiopia's Constitution in light of the theory of social contract, and tries to show what the Constitution should fulfil as a social contract in contemporary Ethiopia.

Mining ideological discourse on Twitter: The case of extremism in Arabic

Extremism has been a problematic term to define and suggests different and opposing meanings. This study explores how Twitter users conceptualize extremism in Arabic and express their opinions/arguments to construct the term. A corpus of tweets was collected from Twitter API using the word ‘تطرف أو متطرف’ in Arabic for extremist/extremism. A topic modeling algorithm was then applied to the dataset to uncover latent associated concepts underlying extremism, followed by a critical discourse analysis using Van Dijk’s Sociocognitive approach. The discursive and linguistic strategies used by Twitter users to support and justify their views of extremism were examined. The findings demonstrate an ideological influence that controls the concept of extremism, keeping it open to manipulation to serve shared interests and goals. Arab users of Twitter use extremism to promote their groups’ positive schema against others-negative schema.

Resisting the global neoliberal economy

As a Western citizen, am I responsible for the serious injustices, such as sweatshop labour, characterising our global economy? Benjamin McKean’s terrific new book, Disorienting Neoliberalism: Global Justice and the Outer Limit of Freedom, shows why this is a misleading question – one that will not properly orient us in relation to the neoliberal economy. McKean argues that we need to recognise that we are unfree under unjust transnational economic institutions and thus we have a shared interest in resisting neoliberalism. This means that we should become disposed to heed the calls for solidarity by others across the world whose freedom is also impaired by neoliberal institutions. McKean’s book offers a powerful and persuasive new account of global (in)justice and solidarity; it is an inspiring call to arms for egalitarian theorists. Although I will raise two friendly critical observations about McKean’s argument, I recognise that this book is a major contribution to international political theory and that it sets a superb example of how to combine scholarly rigour with what might be called activist theorising.

De-Layering Social Networks by Shared Tastes of Friendships

Traditionally, social network analyses are applied to data from a particular social domain. With the advent of online social networks such as Facebook, we observe an aggregate of various social domains resulting in a layered mix of professional contacts, family ties, and different circles. These aggregates dilute the community structure. We provide a method for de-layering social networks according to shared interests. Instead of relying on changes in the edge density, our shared taste model uses content of users to disambiguate the underlying shared interest of each friendship. We successfully de-layer real world networks from LibraryThing and Boards.ie, obtaining topics that significantly outperform LDA on unsupervised prediction of group membership.

2020 Timoshenko Medal Acceptance Lecture: Mechanics: Evergreen and Forever New

2020 Timoshenko Medal Acceptance Lecture: Mechanics: Evergreen and Forever New

Cultivating teacher professionalism in Chinese and U.S. settings: contexts, standards, and personhood

ABSTRACT Our global era invites research on teacher reflection that is grounded in local contexts and enriched by cross-regional collaborations. Teacher professionalism is a shared global interest that is shaped by unique cultural factors in local settings. This study examines Chinese and U.S. undergraduate teacher education student views on the criteria for and standardised measures used to assess teacher professionalism. Data analyses of participant products, specifically group rubrics and individual reflections, involved constant comparative analyses to highlight convergent and divergent themes in student conceptions of teacher professionalism within and across the U.S. and Chinese university contexts. Findings demonstrate similarities and distinctions across participant views on the professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions involved in becoming a teacher, and reveals teacher professionalism as a dialectic among contexts, standards, and persons. Context distinguishes professional practice in ways that bring meaning and relevancy to local student needs. Standards provide a shared foundation for global discourse around key elements of a profession. Maintaining a person-centred view helps ensure assessment practices keep education’s broader civic goals central. Engaging in international dialogue on the meaning of teacher professionalism across regional cultures expanded understandings of professionalism, and how it may be fostered and evaluated more effectively in teacher education.