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Mapping the innovation DNA of agribusiness firms: A multi-method analysis of strategic capabilities and performance
No full textInnovation is essential for competitiveness in agribusiness facing dynamic environments. This study examines how market orientation, marketing, relational, and social capabilities influence innovation performance. Using data from 751 Spanish firms and a multi-method approach that integrates Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA), and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), the research explores linear, non-linear, and configurational relationships. Results show that market orientation, marketing, and social capabilities show significant linear relationships, while relational capabilities exhibit an inverted U-shaped relationship. NCA identifies marketing and relational capabilities as necessary conditions within the SEM framework; however, none meet the strict necessity thresholds under fsQCA. Configurational analysis reveals multiple successful capability combinations, supporting the concept of equifinality. These findings contribute to innovation theory by integrating variance- and set-theoretical approaches, offering a nuanced view of capability orchestration. Practical implications include guidance for managers on capability development and for policymakers aiming to strengthen innovation ecosystems in agribusiness.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Differentiable neural search architecture with zero-cost metrics for insulator fault prediction
No full textReliable monitoring of high-voltage insulators is critical for maintaining the stability of electrical power systems, particularly under environmental contamination that can lead to flashover. Traditional inspection techniques struggle to anticipate degradation dynamics, while data-driven models often rely on fixed neural architectures that inadequately capture the complex temporal patterns in leakage current signals. This work proposes a Differentiable Neural Architecture Search (DARTS) framework, based on zero-cost metrics, tailored for time series forecasting in insulator monitoring. The method based on DARTS integrates a mixed encoder-decoder design with learnable selection over long short-term memory, gated recurrent units, and transformer components, coupled with a cross-attention bridge featuring temporal bias and gating mechanisms. To ensure efficient architecture exploration, the search leverages metrics such as SynFlow and Jacobian covariance for early candidate screening, followed by a bilevel optimization stage with entropy and diversity regularization. Experiments on real-world leakage current data demonstrate that the discovered architectures outperform manually designed baselines, offering improved forecasting performance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
University voices: Professional communicators and science communication perspectives
Full text linkUniversities are part of a network of relationships that engage them in research activities and institutional commitments, allowing them to build connections with business, industry, and civil society. These relationships are not new, and many have described university’s public communication functions such as Marketing, Public Affairs and Public Relations. As public engagement in science and science communication increasingly becomes part of the agendas and university missions, attention has been given to the ‘science communication function’ of universities– aimed at engaging civic society. Yet, our knowledge about the contexts in which science communication emerges in the university setting is limited, we examine this question through a qualitative study with 39 interviews involving communication professionals working in central communication offices in universities in four European countries. Major findings indicate that Science Communication is strongly connected to other functions and is rapidly evolving, particularly in the United Kingdom. Considering the centralised and decentralised system of science communication, there is an evident process of roles’ distribution and differences between countries: in Germany and the United Kingdom the process of decentralization of science communication is more developed. Finally, there are factors that may hinder or support the development of communication functions, particularly for science communication. Among the former, a lack of resources and a dysfunctional internal organisation stand out, while for the latter, the legitimisation of the crucial role of communicators, as well as training courses appropriate to this evolving profession, seem to be very important.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Financialisation and the (de-)unionisation of workers in Portugal
No full textOver the last five decades, the degree of unionisation of workers has been decreasing and, therefore, by inadvertently accepting the deterioration of labour relations, the loss of labour rights, and the increase in the exploitation of labour all over the world, workers have not genuinely contested the neoliberal agenda and the deregulation and flexibilisation of the labour market. Our argument to explain this puzzling paradox of worsening labour conditions yet a lesser degree of unionisation finds that this is due to the financialisation of workers. On the one hand, workers with financial assets tend to reduce their unionisation due to their more financially solid position, pro-capital predisposition, perceived disconnection from union priorities, access to attractive remuneration benefits, a (psychological) sense of being owners (employers) and an alignment with capital's (employers’) interests. On the other hand, workers with financial liabilities tend to reduce their unionisation due to their more financially fragile position, fears of job and income loss and concerns about default, reluctance to incur the immediate costs of monthly union dues, worries about the social stigma linked to potential default and a tendency to prioritise individual interests over collective action. This paper aims to study the relation between the financialisation of workers and their unionisation by performing a time series econometric analysis centred on Portugal over the period from 1980 to 2023. Our results confirm that the financialisation of workers exerts a negative effect on the degree of unionisation in Portugal. The financialisation of workers has indeed been one of the main factors behind the deunionisation in Portugal since the 1980s.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Religiosity and justification of euthanasia: Multilevel moderation of beliefs in life after death
No full textAlthough research consistently shows that both individual and national religiosity are negatively associated with the justification of euthanasia, there is a lack of knowledge about the moderators of this relationship. Beliefs in life after death provide a framework for attributing meaning beyond earthly existence. Using data from the most recent wave of the European Values Study project (EVS, 2022), this study examined how such beliefs in life after death relate to the justification of euthanasia and moderate the religiosity-euthanasia relationship at both individual and cultural levels in a cross-national context. A multilevel analysis of 35 countries and approximately 48,000 participants revealed that both religiosity and beliefs in life after death significantly increased opposition to euthanasia. Moreover, beliefs in life after death strengthened the negative association between religiosity and the justification of euthanasia. Findings suggest that these beliefs in life after death operate simultaneously at the individual and cultural levels. These results highlight the importance of multilevel approaches to understanding end-of-life attitudes and underscore the need for public health policies to consider cultural beliefs about death when addressing euthanasia legislation and clinical decision-making.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Input attention, squeeze and excitation, and spatial transformer of YOLO for fault detection using UAV
No full textThe detection of faults in insulators is important to guarantee the continuous supply of electricity. To identify faults in these components, various object detection methods based on deep learning have been explored. This paper investigates architectural enhancements to the You Only Look Once (YOLO) framework for fault detection in electrical power grid insulators. Three structural variants are proposed: the Input Attention Transformer (IAT-YOLO) for spatial feature refinement, Squeeze-and-Excitation (SAE-YOLO) modules for channel recalibration, and Spatial Transformer Networks (STN-YOLO) for geometric alignment. Experiments were conducted on a publicly available insulator dataset from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), comprising seven defect categories, including pollution, breakage, and flashover damage. Results demonstrate that STN-YOLO and SAE-YOLO consistently improve generalization and robustness, achieving mAP values of up to 0.995 for specific classes. The findings highlight the effectiveness of integrating attention mechanisms and spatial transformations to enhance YOLO-based detection, contributing to improved automated inspection of the power grid.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Optimizing the achievable sum-rate in OFDM-based Multi-User MIMO systems assisted by multiple Beyond-Diagonal RISs
No full textMassive multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) systems operating in the millimeter wave (mmWave) and terahertz (THz) frequency bands offer high data rates and spatial multiplexing, yet they face significant propagation challenges. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) and their different architectures have emerged as a promising solution to these challenges, having the potential to enhance system performance. This paper addresses the joint sum-rate maximization problem in multi-user, multi-stream, multi-carrier MIMO systems aided by multiple parallel RIS panels. To minimize the inter-user interference, we adopt a problem formulation that adds a regularization term. To solve the resulting problem, we then propose a regularized cyclic block proximal gradient (MU-RCBPG) algorithm, which can jointly optimize precoders and RIS phase shifts without increasing the complexity compared to traditional singl-evalued decomposition (SVD)-based methods. The resulting algorithm has a flexible design that allows it to support configurations with beyond-diagonal RIS (BD-RIS), conventional diagonal RIS (D-RIS), and active D-RIS. Numerical results demonstrate that the MU-RCBPG algorithm outperforms existing RIS-aided schemes in various scenarios.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Leveraging AI and generative AI in urban design and planning: Unveiling advantages and challenges through problem structuring methods
No full textThe integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in general—and its subfield Generative AI (GenAI) in particular—into urban design and planning is revolutionizing traditional methodologies, providing innovative solutions to complex challenges in city development. Despite their transformative potential, existing research underscores a critical need to better understand the multifaceted advantages and challenges associated with these technologies. This study addresses this gap by investigating the causal relationships between the advantages and challenges of AI and GenAI integration in urban design and planning. Leveraging a novel combination of cognitive mapping and neutrosophic DEcision-MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), the research identifies and evaluates key factors shaping this integration. The findings reveal that dynamic digital city simulations and scenario modeling emerge as the most significant advantages, underscoring their capacity to drive data-informed innovation in urban development. Conversely, ethical concerns surface as the most critical challenge, exhibiting strong interdependencies with other issues, including the “black box” nature of AI systems and the biases embedded in training data. This study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the interplay between these factors, offering actionable insights to guide both academic research and practical implementation. By addressing a pressing need in the field, the research paves the way for more responsible and effective applications of AI and GenAI in creating smarter, more sustainable urban environments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Integrating external stakeholders for green innovation in third-party logistics: The mediating role of green absorptive capacity
No full textPurpose
This study addresses recent calls from scholars to broaden research on the organizational capabilities of logistics firms that facilitate the dynamic interaction between acquiring and utilizing intangible resources for green innovations. It builds on the integrative and organizational learning perspectives of the natural-resource-based view (NRBV) to evaluate how external stakeholder integration (SI) and green absorptive capacity (GAC), two distinct yet complementary strategic capabilities, interact to promote the adoption of green innovations in third-party logistics providers (3PLs).
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey-based approach was adopted. Online questionnaires were distributed to top managers responsible for sustainability at German 3PLs. The collected data were processed using AMOS 26 for confirmatory factor analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The findings reveal positive full mediation through GAC in the relationship between SI and the adoption of green innovations, with notable variations in mediation effect sizes across different innovation subsets, suggesting the need for context-specific approaches.
Originality/value
By empirically demonstrating how SI and GAC interact to shape green innovation outcomes, this study offers new insights into the internal organizational capabilities required for greening in 3PL firms. It is among the first to establish the mediating role of GAC on stakeholder-driven innovation in logistics, thus extending the green logistics literature and providing guidance for 3PL managers seeking a competitive edge through environmental sustainability.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Development and validation of a Satisfaction Questionnaire for Performance Appraisal Evaluation (SQPAE): A measurement instrument
No full textBackground
Performance appraisal (PA) plays a crucial role in human resource management by guiding professional development and informing decisions on promotions, compensation, and training. Employee satisfaction with the PA process is essential, as it affects motivation, engagement, and productivity. to effectively assess satisfaction with PA remain scarce.
Main body
The Satisfaction Questionnaire for Performance Appraisal Evaluation (SQPAE) was developed to assess three core dimensions of satisfaction with PA: (a) the procedures involved, (b) the perceived effectiveness of the process, and (c) the feedback received.
Objective
To develop and validate a reliable instrument for assessing employee satisfaction with PA and to identify its key contributing factors.
Methods
The research comprised four studies.Study 1 focused on item development and expert validation. Study 2 applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify the structure and psychometric properties of the instrument. Study 3 confirmed the structure through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in an independent sample. Study 4 examined how the SQPAE components and different appraisal sources influence employee satisfaction. Data were collected via surveys in private-sector organisations, and statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS and AMOS.
Results
The SQPAE demonstrated high reliability and validity. Feedback emerged as the strongest predictor of satisfaction with appraisal outcomes. Additionally, evaluations conducted by supervisors and peers were positively associated with satisfaction, while evaluations by subordinates showed a negative association.
Conclusion
The SQPAE is a valid and reliable tool for assessing employee satisfaction with PA and offers a robust alternative to existing instruments. It can support organisations in improving PA processes to enhance employee engagement and performance. Future studies should examine its applicability across different organisational settings, hierarchical levels, and sectors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio