EUR Research Repository
Not a member yet
514614 research outputs found
Sort by
Religion and the Violence of Development:The Case of Flores, Indonesia
No full textThis article examines the complex and often contradictory role of the Catholic Church in Flores, Indonesia, in the context of the violence of development over recent decades. As state and corporate-led development projects—particularly in mining, tourism, and energy—displace local communities and degrade the environment, the Church emerges as both a moral advocate for local resistance and, at times, complicit in such unwelcome development. While it appeals to principles of social justice to defend the marginalized, it also engages in or remains silent about development agendas that result in dispossession and socio-environmental harm. With this backdrop, the article argues that the Church in Flores stands at a crossroads: enmeshed in a development model that reinforces its institutional relevance while simultaneously undermining its ethical commitments. By unpacking this tension, the article contributes to broader discussions on the ambivalent roles of faith-based actors in development and the challenges of aligning moral authority with inclusive, rights-based approaches in contested development landscapes.</p
The Agrarian Question and its Mutations:Comparative Reflections on Structural Transitions
No full textThis commentary offers comparative reflections on partial resolutions and mutations of “the agrarian question” in selected historical, structural, and institutional settings. Some observations on the exposition of this question in classical political economy are followed by the contrasting cases of Meiji Japan and the Soviet Union, and then by focusing on processes under conditions of high collectivism in Maoist, and peasantist de-collectivisation in post-Maoist rural China. Finally, it evinces a sequence of transformations of the agrarian question under contemporary conditions of neoliberal and post-neoliberal capitalist globalisation whereby it permutates successively into interconnected labour, demographic, social, and political questions that are overlaid by questions of environmental and systemic stability and sustainability.</p
Coal, livelihoods, and climate politics:The contested terrain of anti-coal struggles in India
No full textPersisting high growth through competitive actions & AI-based decision-making
No full textThis dissertation investigates how firms achieve and sustain persistent high growth, and how the rise of artificial intelligence reshapes the strategic foundations that underpin such trajectories. While traditional theories portray rapid growth as destabilizing and suggest that moderate expansion offers the safest path to survival, recent evidence highlights the societal and economic importance of high-growth firms and raises questions about whether these assumptions still hold. Across three empirical studies, this dissertation re-examines the benefits, mechanisms, and vulnerabilities of persistent high growth by integrating insights from growth–survival theory, competitive dynamics, organizational learning, and AI-enabled strategy.The findings demonstrate that persistent high growth is neither a rare accident nor an inherently hazardous deviation, but instead reflects cumulative, path-dependent processes through which firms build capabilities, legitimacy, and competitive position. Ventures that sustain growth across multiple episodes exhibit stronger survival prospects than those that follow moderate or irregular growth paths. At the same time, persistent high growth emerges not from single categories of strategic action but from synchronized portfolios of growth and restructuring moves whose effectiveness depends on firm context and strategic history. This configurational perspective positions scaling as a systemic behavioral accomplishment rather than a short-lived burst of expansion.The dissertation further shows that the increasing use of artificial intelligence in strategic decision-making introduces new dynamics into the pursuit of persistent high growth. While AI improves predictive accuracy and raises performance, it can also accelerate the erosion of strategic decision value as all firms gain access to optimal decisions. Yet this erosion is cyclical rather than permanent: recursive feedback, input heterogeneity, and adaptive search processes generate renewed value of decision making over time. Taken together, the results recast persistent high growth as a behavioral–algorithmic capability, one whose viability depends on how firms coordinate strategic actions and adapt within increasingly AI-mediated competitive environments. <br/
Online marketplaces in contract law
No full textEen online marktplaats fungeert als een tussenpersoon waarop aanbieders en afnemers elkaar kunnen vinden en met elkaar kunnen contracteren. Deze bijdrage gaat in op de contractuele kwalificaties die van toepassing kunnen zijn op online marktplaatsen en de gevolgen daarvan. Een online marktplaats moet onder meer de zorg van een goed opdrachtnemer in acht nemen ten opzichte van de gebruikers van het platform. Die zorgplicht kan nader worden ingevuld met specifieke verplichtingen die voor online tussenpersonen voortvloeien uit Europese regelgeving, zoals de P2B-Verordening en de Digital Services Act
Quantitative Mapping of the Distal Radius to Aid Screw Selection for Volar Plate Fixation and Single-use Distal Radius Kits
No full textBACKGROUND: Volar plate fixation is a common surgical fixation method for distal radius fractures. The aim of the study was to perform a large-scale quantitative analysis of intact distal radius anatomy to (1) investigate the demographic and anatomical factors associated with lengths of locking screws for volar plate fixation and (2) determine the optimal screw distribution in a single-use distal radius set for the overall patient cohort, ensuring inclusion of all necessary screws while minimizing waste. METHODS: CT scans from 198 wrists with an intact distal radius were evaluated. An open-source software module was used to automatically segment the distal radius and assemble a 3-dimensional anatomy for each patient. A quantitative map was computed to represent thickness across the volar surface. Variation in thickness was assessed in quantiles at the articular surface of the distal radius, using multivariate mixed modeling with respect to metaphyseal screw length and patient demographics. RESULTS: Calculated across the entire patient cohort, the mean (95% percentile range) for each screw position was 10.2 (9.0 to 13.0) mm for the metaphyseal screw, 9.42 (6.7 to 13.8) mm for Qu1, 15.3 (11.4 to 20.5) mm for Qu2, 19.22 (15.6 to 22.3) mm for Qu3, 19.39 (16.2 to 23.0) mm for Qu4, and 16.22 (10.3 to 19.7) for Qu5. Female patients had a smaller mean thickness than male patients at Qu2 (-1.93 mm, P = 0.003), Qu3 (-1.90 mm, P = 0.003), Qu4 (-1.99 mm, P = 0.002), and Qu5 (-2.21 mm, P < 0.001). For every 1 mm decrement in metaphyseal screw length, thickness was estimated to decrease by 0.518 mm ( P < 0.001) at Qu2, 0.462 mm ( P = 0.002) at Qu3, and 0.462 mm ( P = 0.004) at Qu4. CONCLUSION: A high-resolution, high-fidelity anterior to posterior quantitative thickness map was constructed. This was used to find an effect of sex and metaphyseal screw length on distal locking screw length and an overall 95% percentile distribution of screw lengths.</p
Underrepresented patient populations in cardiovascular device trials:A transatlantic expert narrative on sex, age, demographic groups, and geographical background
No full textExternal validity of clinical research can be optimized by an adequate representation of all patient groups within a disease spectrum. This emphasizes the need of enrolling patient groups who have been historically underrepresented on the basis of sex, age, demographic groups, or geographical background. Especially in countries with pronounced disparities, raising awareness regarding the existing gaps in future clinical studies continues to be a priority. Census-defined demographic minority groups have been reported to have less access to high-quality healthcare, are less studied in clinical trials, and have less group-specific high-quality data on outcomes after treatment. Additionally, efforts should continue towards enrolling a balanced or at least representative distribution of women and men in clinical trials; and, enrolling age ranges that are consistent with patients suffering from the index disease. Aiming for heterogeneity in study populations will undoubtedly contribute to advancements in medicine, the development of improved therapies, and better outcomes. Analyses on demographic groups have revealed significant disparities within some regions of the world, underlining the need to further investigate whether access to advanced therapies is consistently offered to all members of a nation. To foster international collaboration in cutting-edge clinical research with adequate patient representation, this document presents insights and consensus on fundamental issues, including available classifications of demographic groups in Europe and North America, and presents a standardized approach for collecting geographical background data.</p
Large-scale meta-analysis and precision functional assays identify FANCM regions in which PTVs confer different risks for ER-negative and triple-negative breast cancer
No full textThe breast cancer risk conferred by germline protein truncating variants (PTVs) in known and putative breast cancer genes has been extensively investigated. However, the effect of FANCM PTVs on breast cancer risk remains unclear. Our previous clinical, genetic and functional results on the N-terminal p.Arg658∗ and the two C-terminal p.Gln1701∗ and p.Gly1906Alafs∗12 variants suggested that FANCM PTVs may confer different risks for ER-negative (ER-neg) and triple-negative (TN) breast cancer subtypes. Here, we performed meta-analyses of seven studies totaling 144 681 breast cancer cases and 123 632 controls. FANCM PTVs were tested for association with breast cancer risk overall and the disease clinical subtypes by single variant and burden analyses. Two CRISPR-Cas9-based functional assays were also conducted to test the fitness of cells after knock-in of the p.Arg658∗, p.Gln1701∗ and p.Gly1906Alafs∗12 PTVs and the sensitivity of different FANCM regions to genome editing. Our results suggest that the N-terminal FANCM region upstream of p.Tyr725 harbors essential functions, whereas downstream regions appear dispensable. This is supported by our genetic data which indicate that all FANCM PTVs, excluding the two C-terminal p.Gln1701∗ and p.Gly1906Alafs∗12, are associated with an increased risk of ER-neg (OR = 1.41, P = 0.023) and TN (OR = 1.64, P = 0.0023). Notably, PTVs upstream of AA position 670 are associated with a moderate risk of developing TN breast cancer, and that even when the p.Arg658∗ carriers were excluded from the analysis. Importantly, our results confirm previous data indicating that p.Arg658∗ carriers are at moderate risk of developing ER-neg (OR = 2.08, P = 0.030) and TN (OR = 3.26; P = 0.0034), whereas carriers of p.Gln1701∗ and p.Gly1906Alafs∗12 should not be considered at increased risk. Our data are useful for counseling carriers of FANCM PTVs, but further analyses are warranted to obtain more precise risk estimates.</p