Business network paradoxes: A literature review and co-evolutionary perspective

How can studying paradoxes in business networks help understand the networks' adaptation and survival? IMP identifies three central paradoxes influencing business networks: i) Development of Relationships vs. Inability to Change, ii) Controlling vs. Effectiveness, and iii) Stability vs. Change. Studying them seems critical to knowing how interdependent participants in business networks adapt to one another. To do that, we use a co-evolutionary lens to review 41 articles dealing with business network paradoxes from an IMP perspective. Results of the Reflexive Thematic Analysis underline that salient tensions mainly originate from weak coordinating norms, resource misallocation, the relationship of newness and aging, and Machiavellian behaviour. As the main value of our work, we then advance that embracing a co-evolutionary perspective can help shed novel light on these paradoxes by contrasting the factors that make the tensions salient with those able to overcome them. Specifically, we identify moral behaviour, structuration of the network, network capability development, and co-adaptation as four main factors that mitigate the paradoxes and help networks' adaptation and survival. Accordingly, we advocate a co-evolutionary conceptual framework regarding paradoxes and outline five co-evolutionary claims as implications for research and practice

The survival of the fastest: Unveiling the determinants of Unicorns and Gazelles’ early success

What are the determinants of Unicorns and Gazelles’ early success? This review article examines the factors that contribute to the success of Unicorns and Gazelles in their early life stage. Indeed, despite their unique characteristics and significant impact on the global economy, Unicorns and Gazelles have yet to be thoroughly examined in terms of their (exceptional) survival factors. To bridge this literature gap, we systematically reviewed 66 articles, comparing Unicorns' and Gazelles' survival determinants and proposing a conceptual framework for their life cycle. Attracted by the exceptional characteristics of these new ventures, such as the fast scalability provided by their business models, early investors play a key role in helping them overcome initial challenges. However, this reliance on investors presents a double-edged sword, as withdrawing their support can lead to significant disruptions. This understanding provides valuable insights for entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers navigating the complexities of the start-up world, ultimately increasing the likelihood of venture success and achieving a champion status. By shedding light on these exceptional ventures, our study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the factors driving the survival dynamics of Unicorns and Gazelles

Caspase-independent programmed cell death triggers Ca2PO4 deposition in an in vitro model of nephrocalcinosis

We provide evidence of caspase-independent cell death triggering the calcification process in GDNF-silenced HK-2 cells

Long Memory in Earthquake Time Series: The Case Study of the Geysers Geothermal Field.

The present study aims at proving the existence of long memory (or long-range dependence) in the earthquake process through the analysis of time series of induced seismicity. Specifically, we apply alternative statistical techniques borrowed from econometrics to the seismic catalog of The Geysers geothermal field (California), the world’s largest geothermal field. The choice of the study area is essentially guided by the completeness of the seismic catalog at smaller magnitudes (a drawback of conventional catalogs of natural seismicity). Contrary to previous studies, where the long-memory property was examined by using non-parametric approaches (e.g., rescaled range analysis), we assume a fractional integration model for which the degree of memory is defined by a real parameter d, which is related to the best known Hurst exponent. In particular, long-memory behavior is observed for d > 0. We estimate and test the value of d (i.e., the hypothesis of long memory) by applying parametric, semi-parametric, and non-parametric approaches to time series describing the daily number of earthquakes and the logarithm of the (total) seismic moment released per day. Attention is also paid to examining the sensitivity of the results to the uncertainty in the completeness magnitude of the catalog, and to investigating to what extent temporal fluctuations in seismic activity induced by injection operations affect the value of d. Temporal variations in the values of d are analyzed together with those of the b-value of the Gutenberg and Richter law. Our results indicate strong evidence of long memory, with d mostly constrained between 0 and 0.5. We observe that the value of d tends to decrease with increasing the magnitude completeness threshold, and therefore appears to be influenced by the number of information in the chain of intervening related events. Moreover, we find a moderate but significant negative correlation between d and the b-value. A negative, albeit weaker correlation is found between d and the fluid injection, as well as between d and the annual number of earthquakes.post-print4396 K

"how over is it?" Understanding the Incel Community on YouTube

YouTube is by far the largest host of user-generated video content worldwide. Alas, the platform has also come under fire for hosting inappropriate, toxic, and hateful content. One community that has often been linked to sharing and publishing hateful and misogynistic content are the Involuntary Celibates (Incels), a loosely defined movement ostensibly focusing on men's issues. In this paper, we set out to analyze the Incel community on YouTube by focusing on this community's evolution over the last decade and understanding whether YouTube's recommendation algorithm steers users towards Incel-related videos. We collect videos shared on Incel communities within Reddit and perform a data-driven characterization of the content posted on YouTube. Among other things, we find that the Incel community on YouTube is getting traction and that, during the last decade, the number of Incel-related videos and comments rose substantially. We also find that users have a 6.3% chance of being suggested an Incel-related video by YouTube's recommendation algorithm within five hops when starting from a non Incel-related video. Overall, our findings paint an alarming picture of online radicalization: not only Incel activity is increasing over time, but platforms may also play an active role in steering users towards such extreme content

"It is just a flu": {A}ssessing the Effect of Watch History on {YouTube}'s Pseudoscientific Video Recommendations

YouTube has revolutionized the way people discover and consume videos, becoming one of the primary news sources for Internet users. Since content on YouTube is generated by its users, the platform is particularly vulnerable to misinformative and conspiratorial videos. Even worse, the role played by YouTube's recommendation algorithm in unwittingly promoting questionable content is not well understood, and could potentially make the problem even worse. This can have dire real-world consequences, especially when pseudoscientific content is promoted to users at critical times, e.g., during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we set out to characterize and detect pseudoscientific misinformation on YouTube. We collect 6.6K videos related to COVID-19, the flat earth theory, the anti-vaccination, and anti-mask movements; using crowdsourcing, we annotate them as pseudoscience, legitimate science, or irrelevant. We then train a deep learning classifier to detect pseudoscientific videos with an accuracy of 76.1%. Next, we quantify user exposure to this content on various parts of the platform (i.e., a user's homepage, recommended videos while watching a specific video, or search results) and how this exposure changes based on the user's watch history. We find that YouTube's recommendation algorithm is more aggressive in suggesting pseudoscientific content when users are searching for specific topics, while these recommendations are less common on a user's homepage or when actively watching pseudoscientific videos. Finally, we shed light on how a user's watch history substantially affects the type of recommended videos

Effects of gamma irradiation on the fecundity, fertility, and longevity of the invasive stink bug pest Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

The bagrada bug, Bagrada hilaris, is an invasive insect pest in the family Brassicaceae that causes economically important damage to crops. It was originally present in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and was reported as invasive in the southwestern part of the US, in Chile, and on a few islands in the Mediterranean Basin. In its native range, B. hilaris is controlled by several egg parasitoid species that are under consideration as potential biological control agents. This research evaluated the impact of gamma irradiation on life history parameters, e.g., the fecundity, fertility, and longevity of B. hilaris, as a critical step towards assessing the feasibility of using the sterile insect technique against this recent invasive pest. Newly emerged adults of a laboratory colony originally collected from the island of Pantelleria (Italy) were gamma-irradiated. Life history parameters were evaluated at nine different doses, ranging from 16 Gy to 140 Gy. The minimal dose to approach full sterility was 100 Gy. Irradiation up to a maximum of 140 Gy apparently did not negatively impact the longevity of the adults. Even if both genders are sensitive to irradiation, the decline in fecundity for irradiated females could be exploited to release irradiated males safely to apply the SIT in combination with classical biological control. The data presented here allow us to consider, for the first time, the irradiation of bagrada adults as a suitable and feasible technique that could contribute to guaranteeing a safe approach to control this important pest species in agro-ecosystems. More research is warranted on the competitive fitness of irradiated males to better understand mating behavior as well as elucidate the possible mechanisms of sperm selection by polyandric B. hilaris female