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Crises, combined crises and their implications for firm profitability
No full textThis paper investigates how the interaction of distinct types of crises impacts firm profitability. Building on a taxonomy of combined crises, where up to four concomitant crises are considered (banking, currency, debt and recession), we estimate panel regressions of the main determinants of firm profitability for emerging and mature countries. Our results show that gross margin has a positive impact on firm profitability, especially in tranquil times. Leverage has a consistently negative impact on profitability, while for size a positive result is valid only in noncrisis periods. We found that the impact of other determinants, such as liquidity, external dependence, ownership and age, varies with the type of crisis and country. This study highlights the necessity of having more than one model to understand firm characteristics when explaining the impacts of crises on firm profitability. Previous profitability models are also indirectly validated, evidencing potential errors in model specification due to data selection. The findings of this investigation contribute to a growing literature showing that combinations of crises affect firm profitability differently
from individual recessions or currency, banking or debt crises
Beyond solastalgia: indigeneity as an antidote to anthropocentric neologism
No full textThis article critiques the conceptual and spatial implications of solastalgia—a term describing distress caused by environmental change—arguing that its etymology and usage reinforce anthropocentric frameworks by omitting explicit ties to land, place, and more-than-human life. This linguistic absence signals a broader epistemological rupture: the persistent separation of human experience from the ecologies we co-inhabit and co-create. Within architectural and spatial discourse, solastalgia risks reducing environmental loss to an individualized affective condition, obscuring the systemic spatial violence of colonization, extraction, genocide, and ecological erasure. Related concepts such as eco-anxiety further medicalize collective environmental grief and render planetary distress as a commodified experience most legible within Global North contexts, thereby masking material inequities and the architectural profession’s complicity in reproducing anthropocentric and colonial values.
In response, the article advances a decolonial critique grounded in Indigenous knowledges alongside queer, white feminist, black feminist, and Afrofuturist theoretical frameworks. Indigenous epistemologies foreground relationality, land stewardship, and the inseparability of human and more-than-human worlds, challenging dominant paradigms in architecture and urbanism. Queer and feminist theories unsettle fixed assumptions about identity, space, and temporality, offering alternative models of ecological interdependence and spatial justice. Afrofuturism, often engaging speculative strategies and interrogating technoculture and posthumanism, imagines futures in which Black subjectivities flourish beyond colonial spatial-temporal constraints. Together, these perspectives provide a foundation for rethinking solastalgia not as an individualized emotional state but as a symptom of entrenched colonial and anthropocentric spatial orders—and for envisioning more just, relational, and pluriversal spatial futures
The digital transformation of international business: a conceptualization, multidisciplinary review, and research agenda
No full textDigital transformation is not an incremental extension of globalization; it is reorganizing how economic activity is conducted and governed across borders. To explain these shifts, we develop an integrative framework that extends International Business (IB) to adjacent fields—Information Systems and International Relations—conceptually linking key dimensions of IB’s decision space to advances in digital technologies and evolving geopolitical dynamics. Using this framework, we synthesize insights from 201 articles across social-science disciplines and show that prior work, while valuable, remains fragmented, offering no unified view of how technology-induced changes jointly recast canonical IB questions and cascade through the economic, political, and institutional environments in which IB is embedded. We argue that IB must redevelop—rather than defend—core theories of firm-specific advantages and internationalization to account for platform-based competition, ecosystem orchestration, network effects, data governance, and rapid, platform-mediated scaling. The geopoliticization of technology further requires theories of geopolitical adaptability that explain how firms cultivate geostrategic intelligence, design adaptive regulatory strategies, and build resilient digital architectures amid techno-nationalism, data-sovereignty rules, and emerging AI governance. Against this backdrop, we outline a research agenda focused on (i) organizational digital-transformation trajectories, (ii) cross-border value creation and capture in the digital era, and contextualized analysis of digital transformation (iii) under rising geopolitical tensions and (iv) increasing sustainability demands. We conclude by highlighting reciprocal opportunities for IB to inform and enrich IS and IR, advancing a genuinely interdisciplinary account of digitally mediated globalization
Content moderator coping strategies: associations with psychological distress, secondary trauma and wellbeing
Full text linkContent moderators (CMs) apply policy set by platforms to protect users from harmful content. It is a stressful job, associated with reduced mental health and wellbeing. In this study, an anonymous survey was used to demonstrate most CMs cope by seeking support from colleagues and this is associated with lower psychological distress and secondary trauma and higher wellbeing whereas increased smoking and alcohol consumption is associated with increased symptomology. Wellbeing services were not related to a reduction in psychological distress or trauma. We argue these results fit within a framework of trauma-informed working and provide evidence for its utility in the trust and safety sector. They also highlight the need for continued research into ‘what works’ to support the resilience of frontline staff
A rule-based approach to classify counterpressing - analysis of its risks and relationship with rest defence
Full text linkThe Defensive Transition moment in football was analysed using data from all 380 matches in the 2020/21 English Premier League Season, which encompassed 12,460 possession sequences in the final dataset. Defensive Transition can be assessed by measuring counterpressure success against instances of shot and territory (counter-attack) concession. Following practitioner consultation, a Rest Defence variable was defined using a rules-based approach and its relationship with counter-attack vulnerability and counterpressing were examined. The number of players occupying the Rest Defence zone was found to have a significant relationship with shot concession (p < 0.05) and territory concession (p < 0.001) following possession loss in the opposition’s final third. However, contrasting prior practitioner belief, there was no significant relationship between Rest Defence organisation and counterpress initiation (p = 0.11). When teams adopt a counterpressing strategy, there was not a significant concession of shots (X2 = 2.74; p = 0.1) but there was significant territory conceded (X2 = 6.93; p < 0.01) compared with when counterpressing wasn’t applied. Overall, teams had greater counterpressing success against the weaker and medium ranked teams rather than higher ranked teams (p < 0.01). Future research may build machine learning models to a) classify possessions with successful counterpressing and b) attribute value to successful counterpressing performance
The experiences of autistic healthcare students in a clinical learning environment: a scoping review
No full textAutism is increasingly understood from a neurodiversity-affirmative perspective recognising the unique contributions of autistic individuals. Despite this shift, the specific experiences of autistic healthcare students in clinical placements remain underexplored. This scoping review aims to map existing literature on this topic, identifying both barriers and enablers to learning in clinical environments. Using Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) framework, with methodological updates, a comprehensive search was conducted across databases including CINAHL, Medline, APA PsychInfo, Education Research Complete Pubmed, Google Scholar, ProQuest and grey literature. Studies were included if they focused on the perspectives of autistic undergraduate healthcare students in clinical practice. Six studies met the inclusion criteria, which were synthesised into four overarching analytical categories: autistic profiles, sensory environments, disclosure and support, and belonging and inclusion. Students reported strengths including empathy and attention to detail, alongside challenges like sensory sensitivities and social communication difficulties. Disclosure experiences varied, and a strong sense of belonging was linked to improved mental health and academic success. This review highlights the urgent need for inclusive educational practices, including tailored support, autism training for educators, and a culture of acceptance. It also reveals a significant gap in the literature, underscoring the need for further research in this area
Near-source wastewater surveillance as a non-invasive tool for disease detection in prisons
No full textNear-source wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) offers a non-intrusive alternative to clinical testing of whole prison populations. Prisons sit at the centre of high transmission risk but experience limited health-care access and barriers to testing individual prisoners. However, the use of WBE for health protection in prison settings has been limited. To assess its merit during the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations were quantified in 680 composite wastewater samples collected from 14 prisons across England and Wales between January and June 2021. Viral RNA was detected in 48% of samples, and wastewater viral loads were found to closely mirror clinical case numbers Lead–lag analysis with adjacent municipal wastewater samples indicated a bidirectional flow between the prisons and their local community: seven prisons exhibited wastewater peaks ahead of their communities, while six lagged, highlighting heterogeneous epidemiological coupling. Marked differences between prisons were apparent in both physicochemical wastewater traits and clinical testing uptake, indicating each institution constitutes a distinct surveillance unit. Collectively, findings here indicate near-source WBE as a rapid, unbiased and scalable tool for disease outbreak detection and for mapping disease flow between prisons and their surrounding communities, advocating its integration into routine health-security frameworks for custodial and other high-density settings
The impacts of selection pressure on insecticide resistance in malaria vectors – a literature review
No full textVector control is key to the reduction and elimination of malaria. Indoor residual spraying (IRS), insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), and larviciding are examples of chemical control of malaria vectors. Conversely, the effectiveness of these approaches are currently under threat due to the emergence and global spread of resistance to the four major insecticide classes: pyrethroids, carbamates, organophosphate, and organochlorine. In this review, the mechanisms of resistance to these classes of insecticides include: target site inactivation, metabolic resistance, cuticle thickening, behavioural resistance, and xenobiotic sequestration. Consequently, the excessive use of insecticides, as well as other environmental factors such as agriculture, microbiome, natural xenobiotics, climatic factors, edaphic factors, and anthropogenic activities, have created selective pressure that constantly drives the emergence and intensification of insecticide resistance among Anopheles mosquitoes
Monitoring training effects in athletes: a multidimensional framework for decision-making
No full textAthlete monitoring is widely used to support training and recovery decisions in elite sport, yet practitioners often face challenges related to data quality, feasibility, and the interpretation of short-term readiness signals within longer-term training adaptation. This narrative review synthesizes conceptual and applied developments in athlete monitoring through the lens of “training effects”, encompassing positive adaptation, maintenance, or maladaptation arising from training, competition, and contextual stressors. We distinguish assessment as isolated or periodic measurement from monitoring as repeated, systematic data collection used to track change over time. Building on contemporary conceptual models, readiness is positioned as an operational proxy for training effects that can inform day-to-day decision-making when interpreted longitudinally and within context. We integrate the Minimal, Adequate, and Accurate framework to support tool selection that is economical in resource use, sufficient to meet clearly defined objectives, and grounded in valid and reliable measurement. Tools and metrics are organized according to the primary construct they inform: training load, athlete state, and training response. We summarize practical considerations across neuromuscular, subjective, physiological, biochemical, and sleep-related indicators, emphasizing interpretive scope, measurement variability, and implementation constraints. To operationalize individualized monitoring, we outline pragmatic approaches using athlete-specific baselines and distribution-based thresholds (e.g., standard deviation intervals, minimum detectable change), alongside decision-making considerations related to Type I and Type II errors. Overall, this framework aims to reconcile scientific rigor with real-world feasibility, supporting practitioner decision-making while acknowledging that monitoring should function as a decision-support process rather than a stand-alone determinant of performance outcomes
SMARTWIN: smart reinforcement learning based digital twin for resource optimization in O-RAN
No full textThe exponential increase of heterogeneous devices and vertical applications in 5G and Beyond 5G (B5G) networks has catalysed a paradigm shift in cellular network design, fostering a transition towards disaggregated, fully virtualized, and programmable architectures. To meet these demands, the Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) architecture standardized by the O-RAN Alliance enables hardware independence, while the use of Digital Twins (DTs) for network emulation and validation is becoming increasingly popular. Although O-RAN introduces new technologies and opportunities, advances in Machine Learning (ML) based network automation remain limited, mainly because of insufficient large-scale datasets and experimental testing environments. To address the challenges of accurate network modelling and efficient resource management in O-RAN, this paper introduces SMARTWIN, a Smart Reinforcement Learning based Digital Twin framework. SMARTWIN enables precise network modelling and intelligent resource allocation and scheduling, with the objective of optimizing the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of eMBB, mMTC, and URLLC network slices. It also implements a Conservative Q-Learning (CQL) algorithm to learn from data generated by the DT, where the performance comparison with the baseline Implicit Q-Learning (IQL) algorithm shows an improvement of approximately 41% across all slices. This indicates that the proposed SMARTWIN framework can generalize well beyond the behaviour policy, enabling more efficient and intelligent resource allocation decisions within the DT